Starbucks Expands Coverage for Trans Employees’ Surgeries

Seattle coffee giant Starbucks is gracing the news recently, but this time, for good. Starbucks previously only covered gender reassignment surgery for its transgender employees in its healthcare plan, but recently announced expanding its coverage. It will now cover more surgeries for trans employees, including facial feminization, breast augmentation, breast reduction, and hair transplants.

"Starbucks was not afraid to ask all the right questions and demand that people get the best possible care," said Jamison Green, former president at the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, an organization that assisted Starbucks in its new policy. "We produced a list of the most crucial benefits and those that are deemed problematic to insurance companies, such as facial feminization and electrolysis."

With suicide rates so high for trans people, access to gender-affirming procedures have the possibility to be a life-saving procedure for trans people.

Read more about Starbucks' announcement here.