FOLX Health is the first virtual healthcare platform with the LGBTQIA+ community in mind
The LGBTQIA+ healthcare revolution has just begun, thanks to FOLX Health.
For most queer and trans folks, access to healthcare is often halted by boundaries and shame. Officially launched in 2020 by A.G. Breitenstein, FOLX Health is a platform that provides custom medical plans, telehealth appointments, at-home testing, and offers products to treat and care for HRT, PreP, ED, and STI’s. These products can all be home-delivered, starting as low as $59 a month.
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“Overall, the current healthcare system is broken in terms of access for the LGBTQIA+ community but also heteronormativity,” A.G Breitenstein tells Very Good Light.
Queer and trans healthcare access
For this community, it can often be difficult to get good health care, let alone any at all. They often have to drive hours to the nearest clinic that would properly serve them, while also facing more serious implications like completely being refused care, harassed, or sometimes even having to teach their medical practitioner about transgender care.
A.G. explains that our healthcare system is predominantly focused on diagnosing and treating.
“For those in the trans and queer community, this isn’t necessarily what they are searching for,” she tells Very Good Light.
FOLX Health has completely reimagined what trans and LGBTQIA+ specific healthcare looks like, giving this community a platform to feel heard and represented without the barriers they might typically face.
“FOLX is removing the barriers and stigmas and designing a healthcare platform that puts queer and trans FOLX in control of their lives, bodies, and medical destiny.”
Healthcare on your terms
Although the conception of FOLX health began before the pandemic, A.G. says that the rise in telehealth services in 2020 made FOLX a much more digestible idea.
The pandemic also brought on more implications for the LGBTQIA+ community, which for some reduced their access to healthcare services to zero due to a job loss or move. This led to patients missing prescriptions, and in some cases, turning to the black market and online communities for alternatives.
Uplifting the LGBTQIA+ in the healthcare system is nothing new to the FOLX founder, A.G., who was also at the forefront of helping individuals at the height of the AIDS epidemic.
“For far too long, the trans and queer community have faced discrimination when seeking medical care. I saw this first hand while working in the healthcare industry for over 30 years,” says A.G.
Beyond revolutionizing the healthcare system for the LGBTQIA+ community, A.G. tells Very Good Light that nearly half of the team of practitioners at FOLX are either transgender or gender non-conforming. This allows for the conversation between patient and practitioner to be respectful and educational, while also significantly reducing anxiety and apprehension of seeking trans-specific healthcare services.
LGBTQIA+ medical resources
FOLX health has also opened up a finely curated forum of trans and queer healthcare information called The Library. The resource allows for the community to be better educated on medications, services, and specific topics like How To Self-Inject HRT, among other informational articles. The company has plans to expand the library resource and make it an epicenter for all things trans and queer health, especially when it comes to questions and getting credible information.
FOLX health is not slowing down in terms of expansion. The first-ever holistic, queer healthcare platform has no plans of slowing down and is now available in 12 states across the US.
The business also hopes to expand into physical locations in the gay meccas, like West Hollywood and San Francisco. FOLX also has plans to tap into sexual health, wellness care, family planning services, other areas of healthcare that have not been easily accessible for the LGBTQIA+ community.