A new national Blue Cross® study is shedding light on an often-overlooked part of women’s healthcare: the work many women take on to navigate care, communicate their concerns and maintain continuity across healthcare interactions.
 
The 2026 Blue Cross Women’s Health Study found that while most Canadians continue to report positive healthcare experiences, many women, particularly younger women and those living with chronic conditions, also report challenges when seeking and navigating care.
 
Nationally, 64 per cent of women say there are health topics they find difficult to raise with their doctor. Among women living with chronic conditions, 71 per cent say they repeated their full health history more than once in the past year, averaging three times annually.
 
The challenges are particularly pronounced among younger women. Eighty-one per cent of Gen Z women say there are health topics they find difficult to raise with their doctor. Fear of dismissal (30 per cent) and fear of judgement (29 per cent) are the leading reasons Gen Z women say they hold back health concerns. These findings raise important questions about why younger women report lower levels of confidence and support in healthcare interactions.
 
“These findings challenge us to think differently about women’s healthcare and highlight the hidden work required to navigate the system,” said Sarah Hoffman, president and CEO of Pacific Blue Cross. “For many women, managing their health has also come to mean managing the healthcare system itself. They are acting as project managers of their own care, shouldering the invisible labour of coordinating between providers, retelling their medical history and advocating to be heard. For us at Pacific Blue Cross, that makes it even more important to make the parts of the health benefits experience we can influence as simple and easy as possible, so our members can understand and access their benefits and get the support they need without adding to that burden.”

A closer look at BC and Yukon

The BC/Yukon regional findings provide additional insight into how women in our region experience and navigate healthcare.
 
Among women with chronic conditions in the regional sample, 77 per cent report relying on family doctors for condition-related care and 37 per cent report relying on pharmacies. The research also found a notable gender difference in how respondents react when they feel their symptoms have been dismissed by a physician. In the BC/Yukon regional findings, 58 per cent of women report feeling upset following physician dismissal, compared with 33 per cent of men. This represents one of the larger gender gaps identified across the country.
 
Women also identified changes that they believe could make difficult healthcare conversations easier. Thirty-one per cent, identified access to a women’s health-focused clinic or pathway, while 30 per cent pointed to having dedicated time during appointments to discuss sensitive health topics.
 
Together, the regional findings point to the importance women place on continuity of care and healthcare environments that support open conversations about their health.

Feeling supported matters

One of the strongest themes to emerge from the national study is the relationship between feeling supported by a physician and how Canadians approach their healthcare interactions.
 
Among Canadians who describe their physician as supportive, 98 per cent expect their doctor’s visit to go well. That compares with 25 per cent among those who say they feel unsupported.
 
The study also found differences in how people report communicating about their health. While 66 per cent of Canadians overall say they describe their symptoms accurately, that falls to 48 per cent among those who feel unsupported by their doctor.
 
These findings reinforce the value of healthcare experiences where people feel heard and supported, particularly when managing ongoing or complex health concerns.

Continuing the conversation about women’s health

Women’s health needs evolve throughout their lives. The study was designed to bring greater visibility to experiences that can sometimes be overlooked and to encourage further conversations about how women engage with and navigate healthcare.
 
For Pacific Blue Cross, the research provides an opportunity to better understand the experiences of women in the communities we serve and consider how health benefits and the experiences surrounding them can help make care easier to navigate, more accessible and more responsive to people’s needs.
 
The 2026 Blue Cross Women’s Health Study was based on an online survey of 2,045 adult Canadians conducted in March 2026.
 
Read the full 2026 Blue Cross Women’s Health Study and explore the national findings at Blue Cross of Canada: https://www.bluecross.ca/womenshealthstudy/
 
Learn more about Pacific Blue Cross initiatives, resources and partnerships supporting women’s health: https://www.pac.bluecross.ca/womenshealth/