SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco-based human resource company Gusto is providing health coverage for fertility treatments to their LGBT employees and their partners. Gusto became the first company in the state to offer coverage towards fertility treatments for their LGBT employees and partners. According to BizJournals, without health insurance fertility treatments are expensive.

The San Francisco Chronicle spoke to Katie Evans-Reber, a member of Gusto’s internal human resources department. Evans-Reber helped institute the benefits package, nothing that, “A lot of the rules out there are a little bit antiquated because it’s just the way it’s been for a long time.”

Gusto is hoping the move will inspire other businesses, including those whose payroll and benefits Gusto manages.

According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the average price of getting an in vitro fertilization cycle in the United States is $12,400. The failure rate for the treatment is around 75 percent which causes people to spend tens of thousands of dollars for the procedure.

Gusto was able to offer health coverage for treatments by eliminating the need for a medical diagnosis of infertility for its employees to get treatments covered. According to the SF Chronicle,  15 states including California require employers to offer some fertility coverage. They further report that the benefits exclude single women and same-sex couples. This is impacted by health care providers and health insurance carriers definition of infertility.

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine defines infertility as a woman who cannot conceive after 12 months of unprotected heterosexual intercourse. Gusto’s new plan offers $20,000 to cover fertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization and gamete Intrafallopian transfer. There are also fertility benefits to employees who are gay men by insuring sperm retrieval and short-term storage, among others.