For Starbucks employees, it may be a little bit easier to start a family using alternative means: the company offers full coverage for IVF, or in vitro fertilization, for both part-time and full-time employees. And people are lauding them for extending that benefit to employees at all levels.
According to CBS News, companies like Starbucks offering employees coverage for infertility issues is helping to ease the burden that fertility can place on couples and individuals. Reggie Borges, the manager of global corporate communications for Starbucks, told Brit + Co that the coverage option isn't new — it's actually been part of the company's offered family planning for employees for the last 10 years.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Starbucks is in the minority in offering this family planning assistance to their employees, nfortunately. The Affordable Care Act requires employers to cover certain essential benefits related to family planning, but IVF isn't included as a requirement. The inclusion of IVF under Starbucks' healthcare benefits came as a "no-brainer," Borges says, especially after it was listed as a benefit that employees wanted most.
When it comes to starting a family, things aren't always as easy as we would like. Many individuals face fertility issues that impact their ability to get pregnant from traditional means, but alternative treatments can be costly and taxing in ways that they haven't expected.
IVF is only growing in popularity amongst those who are planning families. With that, we can only hope that more companies will take note and begin offering IVF as a covered healthcare benefit, to remove the stigma from pregnancy and fertility, and make family planning accessible.
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
Read These Stories Next:
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT