Union members know what it means to show up for one another. It’s the foundation of the labor movement: the belief that no worker should have to face life’s hardest moments alone. Yet when it comes to fertility and family building, too many members are still left to navigate one of the most emotional and complex healthcare experiences largely on their own.
A benefits card that covers procedures is an important start, but it doesn’t prepare a member for what fertility treatment can actually feel like. Members may face long periods of waiting, uncertainty, difficult decisions, and an emotional toll that can build over months or years. For members going through this experience, the presence or absence of real human guidance can shape the entire process.
The Stress Can Show Up at Work
Family building care is more than a clinical experience. Members may be managing uncertainty, loss, complicated treatment decisions, or concerns about cost and access while continuing to show up for their families and their jobs.
Progyny’s recent member survey found that 71% of respondents said their healthcare journey added stress to their daily lives. The top sources of stress included the financial impact of healthcare and treatment, healthcare system complexity, and work-life balance challenges. The same survey found that 43% said stress affected their ability to perform effectively at work.
For labor leaders, trustees, and benefit decision-makers, these findings matter. For members operating equipment, responding to emergencies, caring for patients, working overnight shifts, or managing physically demanding roles, that stress can become part of the workday.
Why Human Guidance Matters
Healthcare can be difficult to navigate even in routine situations. Fertility and family building care can add another layer of complexity.
Members may need to understand what is covered, which providers are in network, what steps come next, how medications fit into treatment, and what questions to ask their doctors. They may also need help processing disappointment, uncertainty, or anxiety along the way.
Digital tools, portals, and resource libraries can help expand access to information, but many people need more than information during a difficult healthcare experience. More than 70% of respondents in Progyny’s survey said they wish every healthcare experience included knowledgeable and trusted human support, like Progyny Care Advocates, known as PCAs.
There’s a meaningful difference between a benefit that connects members to care and one that stays with them through it. Progyny’s PCAs are trained to provide clinical and emotional support, help members understand treatment options and benefits coverage, access educational resources, and communicate more effectively with providers.
According to Progyny’s survey:
- 60% of respondents said their interactions with a PCA helped reduce stress related to the care they were seeking
- Among those respondents, more than 75% said the support Progyny’s PCA team provided significantly helped reduce stress
- 63% said their PCA helped them feel more educated and empowered in their healthcare journey
- 54% said their PCA helped them better communicate and self-advocate with providers
Why This Matters for Union Members
Union members often work in roles where time, flexibility, and predictability are limited. A teacher may be trying to schedule monitoring appointments around the school day. A nurse may be managing treatment around 12-hour shifts. A police officer, firefighter, transit worker, or construction worker may face rotating schedules, physically demanding work, or limited privacy during the workday.
In these situations, a benefit that requires members to navigate everything alone can create additional burden. The right support can make care easier to use and less stressful to manage.
Real member stories show why this matters. In one example involving IBEW Local No. 176, a member and their spouse found support through Progyny coverage provided by their health plan after years of fertility challenges. Their story reflects how personalized fertility care can help members and their families feel supported through a difficult and deeply personal experience.
What Labor Leaders Should Be Asking
As fertility and family building benefits become more common in negotiated agreements, labor leaders should ask not only whether coverage exists, but what kind of experience it delivers.
Does the benefit provide a consistent point of contact who stays with the member throughout the process? Is outreach proactive, or does a member have to know when and how to ask for help? Are members supported through setbacks and next steps? Is guidance tailored to the member’s situation, or is it generalized information applied to everyone?
The answers to those questions matter as much as coverage limits. Family building is one of the most personal experiences a member may ever go through. The benefits that truly serve workers are the ones that combine access to quality care with trusted, human guidance, so no one has to navigate the journey alone.
Learn how Progyny partners with labor organizations to support members and their families.
Ron Abrahall has been a Union member since 1982 and has held both appointed and elected Union Executive Board positions, as well as the staff positions of Union Labor Representative and Negotiator. Ron also maintains an active Union membership today. He has over 20 years of experience in both public and private sector Union Contract Negotiations. His prior experiences include: Labor Relations Representative for the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), past Union President of USW 9544, past Union President of BMFNHP (AFT, NYSUT), Neuro-Surgical Intensive Care RN, Tele-communications and Law Enforcement (Retired NYPD).
