As pride month comes to an end, it’s nice to hear that more companies are expanding fertility benefits to their LGBTQ employees. These changes help LGBTQ employees access reproductive benefits that were previously only tailored to straight couples.
In the past, many companies and insurance providers limited access to fertility benefits to those employees that met a strict definition of infertility. Since many LGBTQ persons do not meet the traditional criteria to be diagnosed with infertility, they were not eligible to use reproductive benefits. Now, more companies are recognizing the disparity and changing their policies.
One example is J.P. Morgan Chase, who recently announced that they would be expanding fertility benefits to pay for treatments and surrogacy services for their LGBTQ employees. Employees in the United States without a medical diagnosis of infertility will now still be eligible for $30,000 of fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization. The company also announced that they would be increasing reimbursement for surrogacy services from $10,000 to $30,000 and helping with adoption-related costs.
“We recognize that there are many pathways to building a family and we’re making it easier to follow them,” said the bank in a letter signed by human resources chief Robin Leopold and general counsel Stacy Friedman.
Morgan Stanley also recently made changes to make it easier for employees in same-sex relationships to access reproductive benefits.
These changes are important because they set the standard for what companies should be offering. Unfortunately, as of now, only 31 percent of companies with 500 or more employees provide some kind of fertility benefit, according to the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
At Reproductive Partners, we hope that more companies will follow suit. We whole-heartedly support equal access to fertility care for all patients. We have helped numerous same-sex couples achieve the families they desire and will continue to support the LGBTQ community.