OPINION:
Consider the millions of working parents who show up every day at their jobs, work hard to support their families and pay into their company’s healthcare plans.
They trust that their premiums will fund genuine medical care, not repeat one of medicine’s darkest mistakes.
In our not-so-distant past, frontal lobotomies were performed to “treat” psychiatric conditions — despite limited evidence of effectiveness. The operations had devastating long-term effects and no proven medical benefit. It was not long before the world realized what a serious mistake was being committed and put a stop to this abusive “treatment.”
Today’s unproven “gender-affirming” interventions on minors use surgery, hormones and puberty blockers to address a mental health condition with similarly irreversible consequences: permanent sterilization, the removal of healthy organs and lifelong physical and emotional damage.
No responsible modern healthcare plan would cover frontal lobotomies, yet many quietly fund these experimental sex-denying procedures on children.
Let us not repeat that shameful history on our gender-dysphoric youths.
This is not healthcare. These are not medically necessary procedures. These are not minor adjustments or reversible treatments. They are costly, permanently damaging experiments on our children, who lack the maturity and legal capacity to count the cost of the lifelong physical and mental health outcomes.
For too long, many large employers treated “gender-affirming” surgeries as just another line item in employee healthcare benefits, something to check off without considering the harms or costs. Many companies have intentionally included this coverage to achieve a high score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index rather than make a profound and courageous decision to protect children from irreversible consequences.
The vast majority of parents who pay for health insurance benefits never ask their employers to spend their premium dollars on expensive, unnecessary “treatment.” Shareholders never signed up to redirect profits for such reasons. Most important, the children being harmed by this need the adults in the room to step up and protect them.
Charles Schwab and Walmart are now being those adults. They have drawn a clear line by removing coverage for these procedures from their company-provided employee healthcare plans for minor dependents. In doing so, they are rejecting the idea that corporations should facilitate experimental interventions on children.
They are choosing to protect families, reduce risk and refocus on the core purpose of a business: delivering real value to the people who own it and work for it.
Charles Schwab and Walmart have shown bold leadership that should inspire and encourage other companies to take action. Schwab acted after shareholder engagement made clear that such provisions were not required to compete for talent. Walmart reached the same conclusion through its own review.
These actions reflect a growing recognition that corporations crossed a line when they began underwriting dangerous drugs and procedures for children.
Unfortunately, according to 1792 Exchange research, at least 568 other companies continue to offer healthcare plans that treat experimental interventions on minors as standard medical care. This is the case even as 27 states have restricted or banned these procedures, and independent medical reviews have raised serious questions about their positive long-term effects.
The companies that maintain the coverage are effectively choosing to keep parents and children inside a system of corporate-enabled and -funded medical harm. This inserts the employer into one of the most consequential and irreversible choices a family can face. It creates a financial incentive structure that can push employees down paths many would otherwise approach with greater hesitation.
Shareholders have begun to notice. The most recent proxy season showed markedly reduced support for proposals pushing expansive social policies. Investors are signaling that they expect management to focus on running the business rather than advancing social agendas through benefits packages.
When companies use their platforms to facilitate medical transitions for minors, they are not remaining neutral. They are taking a side with real and lasting consequences for families.
By stepping away from coverage for these procedures on children, Schwab and Walmart have chosen to safeguard developing bodies and futures instead of underwriting interventions that carry permanent physical and emotional consequences.
Corporate resources should never be used to turn children into subjects of medical experimentation.
• Douglas H. Napier is executive chairman and CEO of 1792 Exchange.
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