Dive Brief:
- Phoenix will join Austin, Chicago, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Seattle among the cities that offer transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits to municipal employees and their families, according to Arizona Central.
- The report said Mayor Greg Stanton announced that Phoenix will provide coverage for eligible transgender individuals who need a range of care, including hormone therapy or surgical procedures during the gender transition process.
- Michael Soto, a board member of the LGBT rights group Equality Arizona, told Arizona Central that the city's decision is a much-needed change. Soto, 36, a transgender man, told Arizona Central, "You've always got a barrier and that stress of feeling disconnected from yourself. Living authentically as yourself every day is really hard" without medical care access.
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Dive Insight:
Phoenix's transgender healthcare upgrade will begin in 2017, and coverage for transgender-inclusive care will have a lifetime limit of $75,000 per individual. Deputy HR Director Leslie Dewar told Arizona Central that the city projects few employees will use transgender-inclusive benefits, based on data from other cities who offer similar coverage. She said the price tag will be "negligible," increasing the city's claim costs by a projected .003 percent, or about $60,000 to $80,000 per year.
"Providing transgender-inclusive health services is vital to the well-being of our employees, makes us a more sought-after employer and is simply the right thing to do," Stanton said in a written statement.
Considering those cost projections and the desire to attract and keep talented people, it's no shock that many private employers offer at least one transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage plan. Today's employers need to be flexible as society's view of the issue continues to evolve. For employers considering the move, there is lots of information available on making the decision.
