Let’s face it: For many of us, the hardest part of skincare isn’t the routine — it’s the bill.
Now, some employers are stepping in with a first-of-its-kind benefit that aims to make preventive skin health and wellness services more accessible.
From skin cancer screenings and acne treatments to Botox, facials and medical-grade beauty products, employees who sign up can get it all for $25 a month or less.
“Every benefit an employer offers has a subject that they focus on. But your largest organ, skin, is highly fragmented,” Mike Jafar, CEO and founder of Joya Health, told The Post.
“It’s medical, it’s aesthetic, it’s cash, it’s reimbursed, it’s med spa — it is so darn hard for a consumer to navigate through something like your skin management,” he explained. “So what we did is we packaged this up and provided it to employers to sell as a benefit.”
The result: Joya Health, which officially launched in October 2024. Most of the companies using it so far are based in California, New York and Florida, but the business is expanding.
“Joya is one of those things I never knew I needed, but now that I have it, I can’t imagine going without it,” said Kara, a 34-year-old woman from Orange County, California, speaking under a pseudonym.
Employers can choose to offer Joya as a benefit at no cost to them, giving employees the option to sign up for $25 a month. They can also choose to cover the monthly fees, making it free to employees.
Once employees are enrolled, they select a single provider from Joya’s network, which includes dermatologists, med spas and plastic surgeons.
All of the providers are fully vetted, a step Jafar said most people don’t appreciate until something goes wrong.
“You go in and you get bad Botox and your eye drops, or you get a laser and you react,” he said. “Vetting the network is one of our biggest contributions.”
So what exactly does Joya get you? First, members receive a facial, medical-grade sunscreen and — most importantly — a free skin cancer check.
“Eighty percent of Americans do not get a skincare check. And part is because of cost,” Jafar said, noting that exams can run $150 out-of-pocket.
“There’s also just not enough dermatologists. It’ll take you three months to see one, and people just don’t do it,” he added.
“But if we could get your annual skin cancer check done at the same time you get your facial, your medical-grade sunscreen — and you get $500 of allowances to do Botox or fillers or hair therapy — there’ll be more people getting skin cancer checks,” Jafar continued.
That’s right: Members get $500 a year ($125 per quarter) to spend on treatments including Botox, laser hair removal, PRP, fillers and microneedling.
“We figured we could save people’s lives and make them feel better in their own skin,” Jafar said.
The results speak for themselves.
“I truly believe that some of my colleagues would not have stepped foot into a dermatologist’s office had they not had Joya as a benefit,” said Kara, who started as an occasional visitor but now goes regularly, saying the system made it easy to be consistent.
“I started with the complimentary full body skin check, which was an amazing service I had honestly never thought about before,” she said.
After that, Kara got a facial and consulted her dermatologist about her rosacea, a chronic condition that causes facial redness and visible blood vessels in the skin. Her doctor recommended VBeam laser treatments, which she now pays for using her quarterly allowance.
“I was not getting these services prior to being enrolled with Joya, primarily because I had not truly found a dermatologist that I was completely comfortable with,” she said.
Joya members also get 24/7 telederm access and up to 30% off medical-grade skincare products like retinol.
But women aren’t the only ones jumping on the Joya bandwagon. Jafar said 41% of members are men, who often use the benefit for facials, acne care and even hair loss procedures like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatments.
Joaquin, a 44-year-old from Newport Beach, California also speaking under a pseudonym, got interested when his private equity company signed up for Joya.
“I was very happy, as I knew my wife would finally get a benefit she will use,” he told The Post. “But I ended up using it more than her.”
He’s not the only one.
“Nearly half of my office signed up — and it’s mainly guys, which is saying a lot,” Joaquin noted.
Although he had already been seeing a dermatologist regularly due to a past history of skin cancer, he said the benefit gave him a reason to take even better care of his skin.
Since signing up, Joaquin has used the benefit to get facials, PRP treatments and Botox — services he’d previously paid for out-of-pocket, but rarely got because of the cost.
“[I] do it more often since I have all these dollars to spend every quarter,” he explained.
