Closing the Gap: What Deloitte’s Report on Women’s Health Spending Means for MSK, Pelvic Health, and Benefit Redesign

If you work in healthcare strategy and haven’t read Deloitte’s recent report on the gender health benefit gap—go ahead and pour yourself a strong coffee. It’s worth your time.

Here’s the headline:

Even when you remove maternity-related care, women still pay 18 percent more in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses than men. That adds up to $15.4 billion more each year for women with employer-sponsored insurance.

Let me repeat that: This isn’t about childbirth.

This is about structural inequities baked into the system—how benefits are designed, what gets covered, and who foots the bill.

What Does This Have to Do with MSK and Pelvic Health? A Lot, Actually.

According to Deloitte, physical therapy and occupational therapy are among the top services women use more frequently than men. Also on the list? Radiology, labs, mental health, ER visits, and office visits.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone working in women’s health or MSK. Whether it’s:

• Pelvic pain in pregnancy

• Postpartum rehab

• Joint stiffness during perimenopause

• The chronic low back pain that keeps getting dismissed
  

Women are accessing care that supports their bodies, but they're doing it in a system that gives them less value per premium dollar. The average woman is paying more out of pocket, reaching her deductible sooner, and getting less in return.

That’s a design flaw. And it’s one we have the tools to fix.

MSK Is More Than a Cost Center—It’s a Strategic Lever

Musculoskeletal care isn’t just another benefit line item—it’s one of the most powerful ways we can improve access, reduce downstream cost, and create lifelong value for members.

Here’s what the data tells us:

• MSK is a top driver of spend—especially for women.

• Delays in care lead to more imaging, more injections, and more surgery.

• PT and OT access can reduce total cost of care, particularly when integrated early.

• Digital rehab removes barriers and expands access to guided care that doesn’t rely on proximity or PTO.

So, yes, how we treat MSK matters—not just to women’s health but also to system performance.

Medbridge Pathways: Supporting the Full Continuum

At Medbridge, we’ve built digital care pathways that reflect the reality of women’s lives across the lifespan, conditions, and clinical settings.

We offer virtual programs covering:

• Pelvic health (prenatal, postpartum, and beyond)

• Total joint and regional MSK care

• Fall prevention and balance

• Chronic pain management

And because we’re embedded into clinical workflows, our platform helps teams track outcomes, monitor progress, and intervene early without adding complexity.

This is about so much more than closing a gap. It’s about rethinking how we deliver proactive, preventative care that is aligned with real-world needs.

A Smarter Solution Starts with Smarter Benefit Design

For health systems and advanced primary care leaders, this is your moment to lead.

If we redesign benefit coverage for high-need, high-impact categories like PT and pelvic health—where outcomes are strong and cost avoidance is proven—we can:

• Reduce downstream spend (fewer surgeries, less imaging, fewer meds).

• Improve access to non-pharma solutions for pain and mobility.

• Keep women engaged in the kind of care that restores and prevents.

• Build long-term loyalty with female members—the very people making 80 percent of healthcare decisions for their families.

In other words? Improve care for women, and everyone benefits.

Let’s Be Honest…

Women’s health doesn’t end after pregnancy. It doesn’t live in one specialty silo. And it certainly isn’t limited to reproductive organs.

Pelvic health is musculoskeletal health. Musculoskeletal health is primary care. And primary care is the front line of value-based transformation.

It’s time our systems, benefit structures, and digital tools started acting like it.

The Path Forward

If your team is evaluating benefit design, expanding MSK access, or embedding virtual rehab into primary care workflows—we should talk.

Digital MSK and pelvic health solutions aren’t just cost savers. They’re trust builders. They’re equity drivers. And they’re foundational to the kind of healthcare system we all say we want—one that actually works for the people using it most.

Let’s stop plugging leaks. Let’s start designing for impact.

Because when we care for women better, we raise the standard for everyone.