Menopause Is a Workforce Issue. Your Pharmacy Benefit Should Treat It That Way.

Most employers want their health plans to support people with serious conditions like cancer or cardiovascular disease.

4 Min read
January 21, 2026

Susan Thomas

Chief Commercial Officer, LucyRx

Best Practices

Most employers want their health plans to support people with serious conditions like cancer or cardiovascular disease. But when menopause is treated as an afterthought in the pharmacy benefit, the experience for midlife women often tells a different story.

Women spend about 25% more of their lives in poor health than men, and closing the women’s health gap could add 1 trillion dollars to the global economy every year by 2040.¹ A meaningful share of that gap emerges in midlife, when perimenopause and menopause overlap with peak career years.

As a nurse, I often hear women ask, “Why do I still feel this way?” The truth is that many are navigating symptoms without the right care—and employers feel the ripple effects.

The hidden cost of unmanaged menopause

A large Mayo Clinic study of nearly 5,000 working women found that menopause symptoms were associated with 1.8 billion dollars in lost work time and 26.6 billion dollars in total annual costs in the U.S.² Thirteen percent of women reported at least one adverse work outcome attributed to symptoms.

Yet treatment remains rare. An AARP/NORC analysis of national expenditure data shows that only about 5% of U.S. women ages 45–64 receive menopause treatment in a given year—even though far more report symptoms.³

That disconnect creates three very practical employer challenges:

Higher medical and pharmacy spend from trial-and-error symptom management instead of evidence-based menopause care
Lost productivity, presenteeism and preventable turnover among women in their prime leadership years
Rising expectations from employees who want support across the full arc of life—not only fertility and maternity

What women say they experience

Women are not quiet about this.

A Yale review cited by AARP found that about 60% of women with significant menopause symptoms seek medical help, yet nearly three-quarters leave without treatment or relief.⁴ Years later, more detailed national analyses tell a similar story: across multiple years of expenditure and claims data, only about 5% of U.S. women ages 45–64 receive menopause treatment in a given year, even though many more report symptoms.³

Additional data reinforces the scale:

About 1.3 million women in the U.S. enter menopause each year
Roughly 20% of the workforce is in some phase of the menopause transition⁵
Only 14% of women believe their employer recognizes the need for menopause benefits⁶

The Society for Women’s Health Research reports that most employees say their organizations have no menopause-specific policies or resources, and many women feel uncomfortable asking for accommodations.⁷

The message is clear: women are asking for help. Systems and benefits are still not consistently prepared to answer.

Why your pharmacy benefit is central to the solution

Many employers are launching webinars, manager training and culture-focused programs. These are important steps. But most menopause care still runs through one channel: the pharmacy benefit.

If your formulary:

excludes evidence-based hormone therapy
pushes key therapies into non-preferred tiers
relies on onerous prior authorization

…then even the best education strategy will fall short.

Pharmacy strategy is the place where:

Evidence-based therapies become accessible—or remain out of reach
Women move from multiple symptomatic medications to appropriate treatment—or continue cycling through sleep aids and antidepressants
Data surfaces who is struggling, where waste occurs and what is changing over time

As a nurse and a benefits leader, I see this as one of the most practical levers we have. That is why we designed the LucyRx Women’s Health Benefit as a core part of prescription care—not a bolt-on point solution.

How the LucyRx Women’s Health Benefit works

The Women’s Health Benefit brings together three elements inside the pharmacy benefit:

1. Expanded, evidence-based coverage for menopause therapies

Broader access to hormone replacement therapy and non-hormonal options
Streamlined clinical criteria to avoid unnecessary denials and delays

2. One-to-one support from menopause-trained Care Guides

Nurses, pharmacists and certified pharmacy technicians with training in menopause and midlife risk
Guidance on treatment options, affordability and prescriber conversations

3. LucyIQ analytics to connect benefit design with outcomes

Identification of members whose medication patterns suggest unmanaged menopause
Visibility into utilization, adherence, symptom-management patterns and total cost of care

For employers, this is a way to operationalize menopause support inside an existing benefit—with measurable outcomes. For women, it is the difference between navigating a complex system alone and having a guide.

Most PBMs barely mention menopause. Employers often stitch together niche vendors without changing the underlying pharmacy strategy. The Women’s Health Benefit is designed to bring coverage, human support and outcomes together in one place.

Menopause as an equity and leadership issue

Women represent nearly half of the U.S. labor force, drive most healthcare decisions and are projected to drive about two-thirds of discretionary spending.⁸ When midlife women are under-treated, employers risk:

Losing leaders with deep institutional knowledge
Weakening the pipeline for executive roles
Sending a signal that some stages of women’s lives matter less than others

Supporting menopause is not only compassionate—it is strategic. It protects your leadership bench and aligns your benefits with your values.

Questions to ask your PBM now

As you review PBM options for 2027 and beyond, consider asking:

How does your standard formulary support menopause and midlife women’s health?
Which menopause therapies are covered, and at what member cost?
How do your analytics identify unmet menopause needs and route members to support?
What outcomes can you share from similar programs?
How will you help us communicate this benefit in a way that reduces stigma?

If a PBM cannot answer clearly, menopause is likely an afterthought in their strategy.

At LucyRx, we believe prescription care should make it easier—not harder—for women to stay healthy and present in all parts of their lives. The Women’s Health Benefit is one way we are putting that belief into practice.

Treat menopause like the workforce issue it is

Menopause affects productivity, retention, and healthcare costs. Tell us about your pharmacy strategy today, and we can discuss how menopause support can be built into the benefit itself.

Start the conversation

Menopause Is a Workforce Issue. Your Pharmacy Benefit Should Treat It That Way.

4 Min read

Susan Thomas

The hidden cost of unmanaged menopause

What women say they experience

Why your pharmacy benefit is central to the solution

How the LucyRx Women’s Health Benefit works

1. Expanded, evidence-based coverage for menopause therapies

2. One-to-one support from menopause-trained Care Guides

3. LucyIQ analytics to connect benefit design with outcomes

Menopause as an equity and leadership issue

Questions to ask your PBM now

Treat menopause like the workforce issue it is

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