Half the Population, One Care Model: A Strategic Miss

Women are physically and physiologically different from men, yet most benefits strategies fail to reflect the populations they serve. Optimizing health, quality of life, and productivity starts with recognizing each person as whole and designing distinct care journeys for women and men. The current system is clinically appropriate for men and was largely built that way. Women need a different journey, tailored to their unique needs across adolescence, reproductive years, midlife, and post-menopause. Research shows that cardiovascular risk emerges later in women than men, underscoring the need for sex-specific prevention strategies rather than one-size-fits-all care (Freedman et al., 2026). Other studies highlight that perimenopause symptoms are often misunderstood and misaligned with clinical expectations, leading to missed opportunities for early support (Hedges et al., 2026). Pregnancy-related conditions further elevate long-term cardiovascular risk, reinforcing the need for proactive, longitudinal care models for women (Kwak et al., 2026). Benefits decisions are care purchasing decisions, and maintaining the status quo ultimately neglects half the population. A high-quality PROACTIVE CARE plan should be built for women by women, supporting them at every life stage.

Freedman, A. A., Colangelo, L. A., Ning, H., Borrowman, J. D., Lewis, C. E., Schreiner, P. J., Khan, S. S., & Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (2026). Sex differences in age of onset of premature cardiovascular disease and subtypes: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. Journal of the American Heart Association, 15(3). https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.125.044922

Hedges, M. S., Hewings-Martin, Y., Karam, J., Castaneda, R., Cunningham, A. C., Xu, Y., Zhaunova, L., Faubion, S. S., & Shufelt, C. L. (2026). Global perspectives on perimenopause: A digital survey of knowledge and symptoms using the Flo application. Menopause. https://doi.org/10.1097/GME.0000000000002730

Kwak, S., Park, C. S., Park, Y., et al. (2026). Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy subtypes and long-term cardiovascular risk. JAMA Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.7802