Congratulations and welcome to our institution!” Little did I know that getting accepted to Princeton University was just the first of many challenges as a gay, person of color that I would face in working to obtain a higher education.Īlthough recent data shows a positive increase in college enrollment for underrepresented minorities, there are still clear and widening achievement gaps in degree attainment for these students of color. This is what it felt like to log in to a college admissions portal to find the fate of my application, in the hopes that the top of the screen would read: “It is with our great pleasure to offer you admission for the upcoming academic year. The butterflies previously inhabiting my stomach metamorphosed into parasites of anxiety. The unshakable discomfort throughout my body was paralyzing. The irregular rhythm of my heartbeat was deafening. “Fixing a healthcare system doesn’t come easily or quickly, but Folx is just the start of helping the community to feel supported in an industry where they have often felt othered.A look into the challenges facing queer and transgender people of color on college campuses They don’t know what it means to have to explain your biology to your physician or what it feels to be deadnamed. Similarly, a lot of the medical practices used in caring for this community are poorly understood,” Breitenstein said. “People outside the community don’t understand the depth and nature of this problem. This fresh funding will be used to grow its clinical networks and build its offerings around hormone replacement therapy and overall sexual health, ensuring everyone gets access to the care they need. “When it comes to critical decisions like, family creation and sexual health, we believe that getting control back from the system is worth every penny.”įolx operates in six states now and is expected to be available across the United States by January. “By avoiding health insurance, our members control every aspect of their care. They choose their medications and services without barriers and gatekeeping,” Breitenstein said.
However, through Folx, they have more agency over their own health. Membership is as low as $59 a month, which Breitenstein is about the same as one would pay if they had insurance. The company offers a variety of services, including gender affirming hormone therapy, erectile dysfunction therapy, STI testing and family planning, as well as on-demand clinical support, at-home lab testing and medication delivery. Instead, Folx is designed to give control back to its members, allowing them to make informed decisions about their bodies and future at an affordable price. Even after all that, meds can be changed at the pharmacy without consent, and patients may wind up paying high costs anyway due to high co-pays and deductibles. Much of this kind of care isn’t covered, and, when it is, it requires an elaborate pre-approval process and bureaucratic barriers. Related on Built in Colorado Plume’s Early Success Is a Lesson in Tech Inclusivityīreitenstein says insurance compounds the problem. Add to that, the fact that many doctors won’t prescribe the medications we need, don’t understand our bodies, and if they do, they require many layers of unnecessary gatekeeping.” “The current system is confusing, expensive and discriminatory.
“The current healthcare system is focused on diagnosing and treating, but for those in the trans and queer community, this is not always the case,” Breitenstein told Built In via email. Breitenstein has been working in this space for 30 years, starting in the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early ’90s, and in that time realized that the healthcare industry is “broken,” saying that many trans women face abuse from the industry and that one in five trans people are refused care completely. Investors include Define Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Polaris Partners.įolx’s founder and CEO A.G. Folx Health, a Boston startup that is dedicated to providing accessible healthcare to the transgender and queer community, launched Thursday with a $4.4 million seed round.
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