The perk competition between tech companies has taken a very personal turn. Google will soon start covering the cost of DNA tests "for employees and their family-members suffering from cancer," says Reuters.

The tests will be conducted by Foundation Medicine, a "molecular information" company which received financing from Google Ventures in two of its early funding rounds. Bill Gates, Yuri Milner, and Kleiner Perkins also invested. The company went public in late 2013.

Foundation offers a specific kind of testing related to cancer patients. According to Reuters:

Foundation Medicine helps steer oncologists to a drug treatment based on the patient's genetic profile. Its two commercially available tests range from $5,800 to $7,200.

Reuters says Google employees found out about the perk last week and tests will be covered starting in January, 2015.

This is the second time recently that Silicon Valley companies have stepped in to pay for procedures most healthcare plans don't cover. Women in particular have benefitted from this never-ending game of perk one-upsmanship. Last month, it was reported that Facebook and Apple now pay for female employees to freeze their eggs.

This latest offering could be a sign of more perks to come, given Google's recent emphasis on healthcare and genetic data and the regulators who get in the way.

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[Image via Foundation Medicine]