The Care Gap That Most Employers Are Missing

Forty percent of a community actively avoiding healthcare is not a preference. It is a system failure.

The LGBTQIA+ population has been so consistently underserved by incumbent care models that avoidance has become the default, and the downstream costs land squarely on employers. Liana Douillet Guzmán, CEO of FOLX Health, lays out the workforce-health implications of a gap most benefits leaders still treat as a DEI line item.

Ten percent of adults in the US identify as LGBTQIA+, a figure that rises to 25% among Gen Z. Within that population, 40% avoid seeking care, a quarter of those who do seek it pay out of pocket to access affirming providers, and inpatient admission rates run 200% higher than the general population. This is not a DEI issue. It is a workforce health and productivity issue, and it belongs in the benefits conversation on those terms.

FOLX wraps primary care, talk therapy, and a peer community platform into a single integrated model built specifically for this population. The average clinician in their network brings over 10 years of LGBTQIA+-focused experience, compared to about five hours of training the typical clinician receives through standard medical education. For employers in states with hostile policy environments, telehealth removes a safety barrier that in-person care cannot.

The business case closes quickly. Within three months, 40% of FOLX members report a quality of life improvement equivalent to roughly two additional productive days per month. For employers trying to quantify the value of inclusive benefits that are actually usable, that metric is concrete. Keep people healthy, reduce avoidance, and build a workplace where a growing share of the workforce wants to stay.

Hear Liana Douillet Guzmán on what it actually takes to design care the 40% of patients avoiding the system will use, and where most employer benefit programs still come up short.