The impact of young and women directors on advancing LGBT-inclusive health benefits in U.S. firms

The high cost of healthcare in the U.S. and the reliance of most Americans on employer-sponsored health insurance make access to comprehensive coverage, especially for LGBT employees, a critical issue. This study examines how the demographic composition of boards of directors influences the provision of LGBT-inclusive health benefits in U.S. public firms. The study finds that individually, the presence of neither young directors nor women directors is associated with a firm's likelihood of offering same-sex partner health benefits (SSPHB) nor trans-inclusive health benefits; however, when both young and women directors are present together on a board, the likelihood that a firm offers both types of benefits significantly increases. With LGBT people comprising 5.6% of the U.S. population, yet holding only 0.6% of board seats, our study highlights that LGBT employees can benefit from the presence of board directors from other underrepresented groups. Further analyses indicate that the factors influencing the provision of SSPHB differ from those for trans-inclusive benefits, and that higher implementation barriers exist for the provision of trans-inclusive health benefits. This finding underscores the unique challenges that transgender employees face in receiving comprehensive health benefits from their employers.