Kroger to extend health benefits to transgender employees on Anthem

The Kroger Co. has agreed to extend transgender health benefits to employees covered under the company insurance plan with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, according to a Facebook posting from a Kroger worker.

The step will likely help boost Kroger’s profile as a corporate employer. Kroger is the largest traditional grocer in the nation with more than 400 stores. With more than 400,000 employees, it's the nation's seventh largest employer.

Earlier this year, the Human Rights Campaign gave Kroger an 85 out of 100 ranking in its Corporate Equality Index, noting the Cincinnati grocery company did not yet cover transgender medicine in its health insurance plan. The local chapter of the Human Rights Campaign honored Kroger at its annual gala this year for the company’s steps toward inclusion.

Britney McGannon posted the information about Kroger’s health care change on her Facebook page Friday night. She has worked full-time for Kroger for more than a decade on the east side of Cincinnati. For the past three years, she has been transitioning as a transgender woman. The Enquirer wrote about her in March.

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Friday night, McGannon posted a direct quotation of an announcement from the Alliance of Kroger, a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, which said, “Beginning Jan. 1, 2016, medical procedures including surgery and drug therapy for gender reassignment will be covered up to a $100,000 lifetime maximum for eligible associates and their dependents.”

The change does not cover employees who get their health insurance through the United Food and Commercial Workers, the union that negotiates the employees’ collective bargaining agreement with Kroger.

McGannon said Sunday she checked with the Alliance of Kroger leadership Friday night before posting the notice on her Facebook page. She said she is not yet eligible for the coverage, but she expects to move in January into a position that would allow her to be covered.

A year ago, McGannon spoke to a company brown-bag session about her life and about working for Kroger. She said Sunday that she believes her openness and that of other employees who are transgender or have transgender dependents persuaded Kroger to move forward.

“I am pretty excited. I never thought when I came out three years ago that with a little bit of work, I could help make a big change and help so many other people,” McGannon said Sunday. “I never thought that would happen.”