For decades, Starbucks has made employee healthcare benefits part of what sets the company apart, including offering benefits to eligible part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week. Those benefits have helped the company build a reputation as an employer that invests in its people — and employees like Angel valued that investment.

For Angel, that reputation was real. After 10 years working at Starbucks, the company’s healthcare benefits were one of the reasons she imagined staying.

“I was committed to Starbucks for life,” Angel said.

For nearly four years, those benefits have helped Angel access GLP-1 treatment as part of her obesity care. After years of struggling with her weight and other health challenges, she says treatment changed much more than a number on the scale.

“Honestly, it has been life changing,” she shared. “I was just so thankful to work for a company who took care of their partners.”

Angel has lost 126 pounds and says the treatment has helped with health challenges related to PCOS and insulin resistance. As a Starbucks barista, she spends much of her workday on her feet, and she says moving around, working and taking stairs have become easier. She also exercises regularly while maintaining a 40-hour workweek.

That sense of being supported is something Starbucks spent years building through its employee benefits. Now, its decision to end GLP-1 coverage specifically for obesity puts some of that trust at risk.

“I’m not sure how I feel. Not as committed,” Angel said. “I feel discriminated against as well and really disappointed. For a company that is so inclusive, it doesn’t feel that way anymore.”

The decision has changed how she sees the company where she has spent a decade. Angel says she wants to continue treatment but doesn’t know whether she will be able to afford her medication out of pocket.

Starbucks has publicly connected its investment in employee benefits with retention and its ability to build a strong workforce. Angel’s experience shows the other side of that equation: when employees lose a benefit that made them feel supported, employers risk losing some of the trust and loyalty they built.

To Angel and other Starbucks partners who rely on these medications to treat obesity, losing coverage is personal.

“I just started living my life.”

She talks about no longer worrying whether a chair will hold her or whether she will need a seatbelt extender on an airplane. She describes finally feeling comfortable taking up space without shame.

So much is at stake for employees like Angel. Starbucks spent years building a reputation for investing in its people. Now, it has an opportunity to show that employees living with obesity are still part of that commitment.

Take action and tell Starbucks to continue covering life changing treatments: No Bias. Extra Equity.