Cigna members can now tap into mental health services via Ginger app

On-demand behavioral overall health platform Ginger is now out there as a overall health reward for Cigna’s fourteen million users, the providers declared nowadays.

Customers with Cigna’s employer-sponsored or unique and family insurance policy designs can now obtain Ginger’s behavioral overall health coaching, therapy and psychiatry companies as an in-network reward.

“Cigna’s mission is to enhance the overall health, very well-being and peace of brain of these we provide by creating healthcare simple, economical and predictable,” Dr. Doug Nemecek, the main medical officer for behavioral overall health at Cigna, explained in a assertion.

“Right now, additional than at any time, individuals are trying to find out mental overall health guidance, and our romantic relationship with Ginger creates additional obtain to that treatment, when and in which buyers require it.”

Interested users can obtain the Ginger application and provide their insurance policy facts to gain obtain to the total suite of companies.

WHY THIS Issues

Demand for behavioral healthcare has been on the rise all through the pandemic. In fact, additional than 40% of U.S. older people noted symptoms of stress or depressive problem, in contrast to just eleven% in the months prior to the outbreak, in accordance to a Kaiser Household Basis study.

“We are facing a nationwide offer-demand disaster in mental healthcare, with demand reaching unprecedented concentrations, and much less suppliers coming into the marketplace than at any time in advance of,” Russell Glass, CEO of Ginger, explained in a assertion.

“We are happy to associate with top businesses like Cigna that realize not only the scope of the nation’s mental overall health disaster, but the relevance of taking a preventative technique to this problem. With each other, we are opening up obtain to amazing mental healthcare for millions at a portion of the charge of traditional treatment.”

The Ginger platform presents all around-the-clock textual content-based behavioral overall health coaching with a trained behavioral overall health professional. If wanted, buyers can escalate their treatment to incorporate digital remedy or psychiatry, with at-home prescription shipping and delivery out there by means of Capsule.

It also incorporates an on the web library of skill-setting up means on subject areas this sort of as mindfulness, associations and current events.

THE Larger sized Craze

The two providers have been doing the job together for some time now, with Cigna Ventures investing in Ginger’s $50 million increase last year.

A lot more lately, Ginger scored $a hundred million in a Sequence E funding round with designs to build partnerships in the insurance policy space.

This is also not Cigna’s initially foray into electronic overall health. Before this year, its overall health companies subsidiary Evernorth acquired the telehealth provider MDLive.

Well being plans’ curiosity in electronic behavioral overall health is expanding and last year UnitedHealth Group’s Optum acquired AbleTo for about $470 million.