Kroger To Begin Offering Transgender Employees Full Health Benefits

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Friday, October 16, 2015

GoLocalPDX News Team

Grocery store chain the Kroger Co., the fifth-largest private employer in the United States, will begin offering full health benefits to transgender employees as part of an update to its employee healthcare policy.

The supermarket chain, which owns Fred Meyer with more than 50 locations in Oregon, will become the largest retail chain to offer trans-inclusive health benefits, according to a report from Forbes. Employees of Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, will now be covered for surgery and drug therapy for gender reassignment.

“We are excited to announce that The Kroger Co. has added transgender health benefits for eligible employees enrolled in an Anthem BCBS administered plan offered under the company-sponsored health insurance plan,” Kroger spokesperson Keith Dailey said in a statement announcing the decision. “For the last several years, the company’s GLBT associate resource group, The Alliance of Kroger  has made a dedicated effort to work with executive leaders and the Total Rewards leadership team to secure these benefits for our associates.”

The company’s new policy will kick in on January 1 of 2016. Kroger joins an increasing number of companies, such as Apple, Gap, General Motors, Nike and Intel, to offer transgender benefits to employee health plans.

There are roughly 700,000 transgender people in the United States, according to an analysis by the University of California, Los Angeles’ Williams Institute.

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