HSBC funding gender affirming surgery for staff

[SallyLockheart]

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including hormones etc for staff and possibly their family members

i wonder if they offer IVF for those struggling with infertility, extra treatments and surgical operations for those with disabilities etc

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1695156/hsbc-fund-gender-reassignment-surgery-diversity-news-ont/amp

in daily express

Oh yes there was a thread about this a while back.
Not to mention paid sick leave for period pain and miscarriages.

Sorry Francesca- had by seen that one

No need to apologise! You’re bringing the issue to new readers, which can only be a good thing. It’s important to know what’s going on.

I’m terrible at linking to old threads but you could have a search?

Why not all medical treatment? Singling out one condition must open them to challenge from other employees with medical needs?

If I were their liability insurers I'd be taking a good look at this policy - what happens if someone has funded surgery and then regrets cutting off healthy body parts?

I agree. They could be opening themselves up to discrimination claims from other employees who have chronic health conditions or a cancer diagnosis. Why shouldn't they also have private employer-funded healthcare?

Lots of employers are now offering this through their health insurance schemes (certainly many AXA corporate policies offer it) along with fertility treatment. What really pisses me off is that these schemes exclude treatment for any issues linked to the menopause (the employers of course say - "we offer another support service" which is usually some crap like Preppy where you can 'talk' about the menopause but tough shit if you need HRT or have any conditions linked to the menopause).

What a very strange policy. Will be I testing to see their other policies. Yes HSBC totally open to being sued in the future.

It's quite vague on the specifics isn't it? Is this a UK initiative? I wonder if it means all staff members (cashiers in high street banks for instance)?

I really can't understand what's in it for them. Is it just so they can pretend that they are virtuous and modern or are they getting business off the back of it from a big pharmaceutical company and the cost of funding a small number of staff makes it worth while?

And surely it can't be that straightforward or they will end up with a disproportionate number of trans applicants for every vacancy that opens up.

Just to clarify - this is an addition to an existing healthcare policy, which already covers chronic conditions, cancer diagnoses, and some menopause support, as well as counselling and other mental health treatment, digital GP for you and your family... It's not a new standalone thing just for gender dysphoria. And yes it's all staff members in the UK. It's being added to a existing package of benefits.

Starbucks in the US had so many trans applicants after a similar policy change that they appear to have changed their minds!

2018: policy introduced: stories.starbucks.com/stories/2018/they-are-lifesaving-starbucks-offers-expanded-benefits-for-trans-people/
2022: ‘queer’ employees lead efforts to unionise Starbucks employees: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/06/21/starbucks-union-workers-trans-lgbtq/
Also 2022: Starbucks threaten trans employees with reduced insurance cover if unionisation continues: inthesetimes.com/article/starbucks-union-campaign-trans-health-care

(There are lots of cross ex employees online saying that in reality it was hard to get the trans surgeries that had been promised, but I suspect that’s the general difficulty of US insurance and what is available in what state rather than a specifically Starbucks issue)

If it's an insurance thing I can never understand how trans doesn't count as a pre existing condition (and therefore not covered). Must be quite expensive to insure a person who you know is going to cost thousands of pounds to treat right from the get go.

Starbucks in the US had so many trans applicants after a similar policy change that they appear to have changed their minds!

You would think this was fairly predictable. All these companies need someone like me in their boardrooms to point out the bleeding obvious.

If they are not also providing hrt and other treatments for the symptoms of the menopause then surely that is discrimination? If the medical insurance starts paying out for loads of gender treatment the Cost to the company increases as does the amount of tax employees are charged as a benefit in kind for their premium. Not very fair if womrn are excluded from claiming for hrt.

From the complaints I see on trans forums this sort of policy only seems to cover an initial psychiatric diagnosis, mastectomy for FtM and genital surgery for MtF.
It doesn’t seem to cover trans-specific endocrinology or hormone medication (which would, I suppose, indicate parity with menopause?)

Yep!

And it’s not just the additional costs that need to be factored in, it’s the time off for surgical recovery too.

Because of how US insurance works with maximum co pays, it’s not unusual to see US Starbucks employees strategising how to get as much surgery as possible in a minimum time period, which for an MtF transitioner might include facial &!genital surgeries plus silicone breast implants in a single year (followed by quitting the job!)

Ermm - without taking sides here - they actually do! The potentially available treatments are part of their employee health insurance package. As I understand it everyone has an employee health plan, but it is also possible to upgrade the plan further. It isn't HSBC that is paying for it, it is their health plan insurer. So if you work for HSBC and have chronic health care conditions or cancer then you DO have private health care.

I have little interest in banks beyond the fact that I don't particularly like much about them, but this employee benefit is not uncommon and originates from the insurers available cover. Many organisations with private health care cover for employees offer the treatment in some circumstances - inlcuding my own employers insurance. Whether you like it or not, any recognised medical condition may be treated under private health care. Gender dysphoria is a recognised medical condition, just like cancer.

So you would still need a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to get treatment.

I presume they use their company health insurance to access a private consultant who can diagnose and go from there.

No doubt companies will get a lot of new employees who use the scheme for the surgery and then spend all of the time off on sick leave and probably never do a day's worth of work.

That's why they didn't want the US Army funding it, because people were joining with no intent on being a surgery, they just wanted the free sex change, and once they had it done would be eligible for exclusion from many tasks.