Manulife’s Jennifer Foubert explains how delayed parenthood is reshaping fertility benefits
Fertility claims for medication have climbed more than 20 per cent over the past five year while one in six Canadian working women experiences infertility.
Yet a recent survey from Manulife found the response from employers has been tepid at best, with fewer than one per cent of workplace benefit plans covering fertility treatment.
As Jennifer Foubert explains, delayed parenthood and record low birth rates are reshaping what employees need from their benefits plans.
"As more people are starting families later in life, there can be age related fertility challenges that are becoming more common," said Foubert, assistant vice president and head of product and growth for group benefits at Manulife Canada. "And we really see this as driving more significant demand for fertility medication, clinical treatments and broader family building support… The reality is that women represent nearly half of the Canadian population and half of the Canadian workforce. And it’s important that we're evolving the benefits to address the needs of a wide range of employees. And the needs are diverse in today's workforces. So how can we bring forward appropriate solutions that are addressing those types of needs, including fertility and pathways to parenthood?”
While employers have been slow to respond, Foubert acknowledged that it’s difficult to “pinpoint one specific reason that employers are a little slow on the uptake and the evolution of their benefit plans," she said.
“There is no national framework for fertility treatment coverage in Canada. Public coverage varies widely by province, which creates complexity around benefit plan design for some but it also creates a great opportunity to play a meaningful role in addressing some of these needs and opportunities.”
Cost is notably the primary concern holding employers back, Foubert said, but she also argues the barrier is more perception than reality, particularly as plans can be customized. For employers who want to opt-in for fertility benefits, Manulife recommends a minimum of $15,000 per lifetime per family.
Foubert acknowledged that it’s meant to cover at least one full IVF cycle, while recognizing that costs vary from person to person. Because a typical cycle can run higher, often landing in the $15,000 to $20,000 range, she believes the figure is best understood as a baseline rather than a comprehensive solution. It reflects the average costs associated with treatment and serves as a practical benchmark while pricing continues to be monitored.
"Even partial coverage can really make a meaningful difference," she said.
Moreover, the cost of fertility treatment can push employees into major financial decisions that add another layer of strain to an already difficult process. Instead of focusing solely on their health, many are forced to worry about how to pay for care, sometimes by taking on significant debt or tapping other sources of financing. In some cases, the long-term effect is delayed retirement; in others, people are forced to make painful decisions about whether they can continue treatment at all.
She argues that this is where employers can make a tangible difference. Better fertility coverage does more than ease the burden on employees – it can also strengthen retention and deepen workers’ connection to the organization.
Foubert points to Manulife’s own decision to expand fertility treatment and medical procedure coverage for employees in 2023, saying the response has shown how meaningful that kind of support can be for both staff and employers. According to Foubert, the early response to Manulife’s Maven partnership suggests there was more demand for fertility and family-building support than the company initially expected.
To that end, Foubert believes the biggest gaps in employer coverage aren’t around medication, but around the procedures that make fertility treatment possible. For example, drug coverage is more common, while support for egg retrieval, egg freezing, and other clinic-based services remains rare. The same goes for costs tied to adoption and surrogacy, which are often left out of benefits plans altogether.
She argues that employers should think more broadly about plan design, including combined maximums that make benefits more equitable across different paths to parenthood. That matters not only for employees having children later in life, but also for same-sex couples and single parents, whose family-building journeys may rely more heavily on medical procedures that most plans still do not cover.
“From an economic perspective, investing in women's and family health is really what we view as a smart decision for organizations that brings a ton of benefit, obviously, to individuals, organizations and communities and the Canadian economy as a whole," Foubert noted.
Still, she suggests fertility journeys are deeply personal and often stigmatized, which makes it harder for employers to gauge what their workforce actually needs. She recommends employee resource groups and confidential polling as ways to surface those needs without putting individuals on the spot.
Foubert underscores meaningful progress will come when more employers make use of the tools and guidance already available to them and start reworking plan design in practical ways. She stressed that progress doesn’t have to come through one sweeping change because smaller steps matter too, especially when they build toward better support for employees navigating fertility and family-health issues.
But she’s also quick to highlight that not every step requires a budget line. Improving benefits literacy, for instance, costs nothing and many employees are unaware of supports already available to them through existing programs like employee and family assistance plans.
Financial planning, she added, is critical for anyone facing the cost of treatment. Workplace flexibility is another low-hanging option.
"A lot of times in these journeys, they don't last forever so the ability to have some flexibility in place to accommodate time and attendance at appointments as someone is navigating one of these journeys can be hugely impactful,” said Foubert adding that manager education also rounds out the picture.
"They certainly are a key resource for employees and help to set the tone in an organization," she added. “Where we can educate managers to understand some of the elements of these journeys and assist them in supporting employees can certainly be impactful as well.”
