[News/Health] [USA] Rights group: More US companies covering cost of reassignment surgery for transgender workers
Stephanie Stevens
Rights group: More US companies covering cost of reassignment surgery
for transgender workers
By Associated Press, Published: December 7 | Updated: Thursday,
December 8, 3:57 AM
SAN FRANCISCO — The number of major U.S. companies covering the cost
of gender reassignment surgery for transgender workers has more than
doubled in the past year, according to a new scorecard compiled by the
nation’s largest gay rights group.
The Human Rights Campaign said in a report to be published Thursday
that 207 of the 636 businesses it surveyed for its annual Corporate
Equality Index either are already providing transgender- inclusive
employee health benefits or plan to at the start of the new year.
Last year, 85 companies had insurance plans that paid for sex
transformation surgeries, and only 49 did in 2009. A decade ago, when
the campaign launched the index, none did.
The major force behind the jump is the fact that this is the first
year the Human Rights Campaign graded corporations and law firms on
whether their medical plans paid for the full complement of procedures
workers might need to transition to a new gender on the job, from
psychological counseling to genital reconstruction.
To maintain a coveted 100 percent and a listing in the campaign’s
preferred vendors’ guide for gay, lesbian and transgender consumers,
companies had to offer at least one insurance plan that covers at
least $75,000 worth of surgery and other treatments recommended by a
patient’s doctor.
“We really wanted to set a best-in-class standard for what it meant to
provide the holistic class of LGBT inclusion in the workplace,”
campaign spokesman Fred Sainz said.
Among the corporations that expanded their insurance coverage this
year are Apple, Chevron, General Mills, Dow Chemical, American
Airlines, Kellogg, Sprint, Levi Strauss, Eli Lilly, Best Buy,
Nordstrom, the U.S. division of Volkswagen, Whirlpool, Xerox, Raytheon
and Office Depot.
Frantz Tiffeau, senior manager of supply chain diversity at
Florida-based Office Depot, said the decision to cover transgender
surgery was made by senior executives who understood the procedures to
be medically indicated, not elective. The office supplies company
already had had employees change genders, before the new health plan
was adopted.
“Realistically, we just looked at it as a necessity,” Tiffeau said.
“Our executive V.P. said, ‘It’s the right thing to do, it’s something
we support and we have employees who have this need.”
To bolster its ranking on the campaign’s index, Office Depot also has
started sponsoring gay rights events such as an annual leadership
conference held by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The
activities have not produced negative reactions from customers,
Tiffeau said.
Dallas-based American Airlines, which has maintained a perfect score
on the Corporate Equality Index since it was created, not only
augmented its insurance coverage but amended its family leave policy
so workers could take time off to care for a spouse or partner
undergoing sex reassignment surgery, said Lauri CQ Curtis, vice
president for diversity, leadership and engagement.
“We have a lot of employees, and we have a lot of employees who make
up the world, if you will, and we thought this benefit could be of use
to some,” Curtis said.
Jamison Green, a San Francisco workplace diversity consultant who
helped craft the new transgender health standards for the annual
report card, called the 145 percent increase in companies with
transgender-inclusive health benefits “phenomenal progress.” He said
that with more employers getting on board, the next task is persuade
more insurance companies to include transition-related surgeries in
their standard health plans.
Many insurers still categorize sex reassignment surgery as cosmetic,
even though the American Medical Association considers it vital for
some people who have been diagnosed with gender identity disorders,
according to Green.
“My contention is it’s pure bias born of ignorance to leave these
kneejerk exclusions in place, which got written into policies 30 years
ago based on theories that were active at the time about who
transsexual people were and what that meant,” he said.
The Human Rights Campaign also found that corporate America is far
ahead of the public sector in terms of providing job protections for
transgender people.
Half of the Fortune 500 corporations and 80 percent of the companies
the campaign surveyed have equal employment opportunity provisions
that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity of gender
non-conformity, according to the new index. Only 16 states, by
contrast, have laws designed to protect transgender people from job
and housing discrimination.
During the 10 years the Human Rights Campaign has been surveying big
employers, the percentage with employee groups for gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender workers or diversity councils that include
gay representatives has more than doubled, going from 40 percent to 83
percent.
Minneapolis-based food maker General Mills has participated in the
survey for eight of its 10 years and earned a 100 percent rating six
times. Now that the company has addressed such issues as domestic
partner benefits, transgender health care and diversity training that
discusses gay rights, it is turning its attention to making sure
workers of all sexual orientations are aware of promotion
opportunities, Vice President Kenneth Charles said.
“Honestly, I think there is an opportunity to take the conversation
beyond benefits parity,” Charles said. During a recent leadership day
for gay, lesbian and transgender employees, the focus was “how we
could help them accelerate their careers and bring their authentic
selves to work every day.”
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
© The Washington Post Company