Many Canadian women are leaving health benefits they already pay for unused, and the reason is more often confusion than missing coverage, according to Lori Casselman (pictured left), founder and chief executive of June Health.
Casselman said the pattern repeats across the conditions her platform handles, which run from menstrual and fertility care through to perimenopause and menopause. The care a woman needs is frequently already available through an employer plan, a spending account or provincial programs, yet goes unclaimed because she does not know to look for it.
"There's often a gap in understanding of how to apply the coverage that exists to the symptoms or care needs that an individual has," Casselman said.
The services most often overlooked are paramedical ones that can now be delivered virtually. Casselman said naturopathy, dietitian support and pelvic floor physiotherapy frequently qualify for reimbursement, and healthcare or lifestyle spending accounts can cover a wide range of care that members never claim.
Casselman gave the example of a woman navigating perimenopause or menopause who could see a nurse practitioner virtually. That support is often reimbursable through a spending account or an employer plan, she said, but the member does not know it is there.
"In many cases, there may be coverage through spending accounts for that type of support or even through an employer-sponsored benefit, but the individual may not be aware that they have that coverage," Casselman said.
Mental health is another area where coverage tends to run deeper than members realize. Casselman said women going through a fertility journey, a shift in family dynamics or midlife care often carry a mental load alongside the physical symptoms, and the support for it is frequently already subsidized within their plan.
"And so again, we're helping them to really understand how to connect the dots," she said.
June's answer is an AI tool that reads a member's coverage and answers questions about it. Members can upload their own or a spouse's benefits booklet and query the system directly.
"It's an AI-driven navigation agent, we call it, and we're training that agent," Casselman said. The tool, called Ask June, is being trained to explain drug and paramedical coverage in a coordinated way.
Not every shortfall is one of awareness. Casselman said fertility benefits remain a genuine coverage gap, with treatment for fertility and family building still absent from many plans even where provincial and some employer programs fill part of the need.
The navigation problem is compounded by a medical system that is often unprepared itself. Casselman pointed to a UK study of primary care physicians in which 78% said they did not feel comfortable treating and supporting women going through menopause.
"And if you let that sit for a moment, it's pretty shocking, right? We're talking about half the population," she said. "Every woman will go through this stage at some point in their lives."
The upshot, she said, is that women left to find care on their own face a journey that is frustrating and disjointed.
Nigel Branker (pictured right), chief executive officer of Securian Canada, which has invested in June Health, said the company sees women drawing more heavily on paramedical benefits than the broader membership, and offered a theory for why.
"Because it's so much harder for women to navigate the medical system, they're more aware of the value of insurance," he said.
Branker said the broader issue is that women's health is still treated as a specialty rather than a basic part of workplace health.
"Women's health shouldn't actually be niche. We need organizations like June to be at the forefront of elevating how we think of it as just health."
Branker said the conversation among employers and plan sponsors is starting to move, from whether women's health belongs in benefits to how to support it at every life stage.
"Historically, women's health has been viewed as a specialized offering, but I think the statistics are overwhelming and we're seeing employers and membership groups recognizing that it's a broader workplace issue, a wellbeing issue, a business issue," he said.
The shift, he said, is not finished.
"There's still work to do and over time I expect it to become a more fundamental part of broad-based, comprehensive benefits programs and coverage," Branker said. "But we're not there yet."
