Amazon informed employees on Monday that it will reimburse up to $4,000 in expenses annually when they travel for non-life-threatening medical treatments, including abortions.
The new policy will apply if the treatment is not available within 100 miles of an employee’s home and virtual care is not offered. All U.S. employees, including at the corporate office or warehouse, and their covered dependents enrolled in Premera or Aetna, will be eligible for the benefit, as reported by Reuters.
Other medical treatments besides abortion will apply toward the reimbursement, including cardiology, cellular gene therapies, and services for substance abuse, among others.
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The e-commerce company is the latest to announce expanded reimbursable travel expenses for abortions as conservative-leaning states impose restrictions, banning the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Both Citigroup and Yelp have already announced they would reimburse travel expenses for abortion care, but Amazon is the largest private employer in the U.S. to announce such a policy, according to Axios.
Along with the new changes, the company announced it will stop offering employees who test positive for COVID-19 paid time off. Instead, they will receive up to five days of unpaid leave.
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The benefit will be retroactively effective for employees beginning on Jan. 1. In addition, Amazon also offers its employees up to $10,000 in travel reimbursements annually for life-threatening issues.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Amazon for comment.
