Starbucks has announced plans to implement comprehensive new healthcare for transgender employees, which is set to include procedures usually excluded by insurers.
The move is being celebrated as a step in the right direction by members of the trans community and follows a year of consultation with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to develop more inclusive procedures.
“The approach was driven not just by the company’s desire to provide truly inclusive coverage, and by powerful conversations with transgender partners about how those benefits would allow them to truly be who they are," said Ron Crawford, vice president of benefits at Starbucks.
Starbucks refers to its employees as partners.
He added: “You have to think of it from an equity perspective.”
“Nobody else is doing this. We would love to see more employers doing this.”
Jamison Green, former President of WPATH, said that “Starbucks was not afraid to ask all the right questions and demand that people get the best possible care."
He continued: “We produced a list of the most crucial benefits and those that are deemed problematic to insurance companies, such as facial feminisation and electrolysis.”
This article has been edited since it was originally published.
