Starbucks has spent a year working with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to create a benefits package that offers comprehensive coverage for transgender employees, according to them.
The plan includes lifetime coverage for services like hair graft, voice therapy, facial feminization and breast augmentation, considered cosmetic by most insurance plans. Starbucks is the first company to approach transgender health group about creating a corporate policy based on the organization's standards of care.
"Starbucks was not afraid to ask all the right questions and demand that people get the best possible care," said Jamison Green, former president of WPATH and current member of its executive committee. "We produced a list of the most crucial benefits and those that are deemed problematic to insurance companies, such as facial feminization and electrolysis."
Starbucks officials said the new policy was a response to feedback from its transgender employees.
"Last year, as a result of conversations with transgender partners who provided their feedback, Starbucks took a fresh look at the health care benefits in order to see where we could improve," a Starbucks spokesperson told them.