Proposition 8 and Group Health Insurance Changes in California

For a long time now group health insurance applications for businesses in California have had a section regarding who was eligible for benefits as domestic partners, and same sex marriages. In typical insurance company fashion, most insurers have passed the buck to the customer or small business to decide. However, now that there is more legal decisions regarding same sex marriage and domestic partnerships, insurance companies have started to make changes in their insurance forms. For example, on the Blue Cross Small Group Employer application, which is newly rewritten in 2008 they still offer employers a choice to cover domestic partnerships, but no longer are they able to be same sex domestic partnerships. Question  section 7g  in the employer application now asks:

G. Do you wish to offer coverage for opposite sex domestic partners* under the age of 62 years?  Yes  No

Then just below the astrix is clarified:

* Anthem Blue Cross and/or Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company complies with State law requiring it to cover spouses and qualified registered domestic partners including dependents to the same extent and subject to the same terms and conditions as a spouse. To be an eligible domestic partner one must be a domestic partner registered under a valid Declaration of Domestic Partnership filed with the California Secretary of State, or an equivalent document in accordance with the laws of another jurisdiction recognizing the creation of domestic partnership.

The new Anthem guidelines seem to only apply to opposite sex domestic partnerships as opposed to same sex partnerships. This is a change in the wording since Anthem took over Blue Cross of California from Wellpoint earlier this year in 2008.  The old Wellpoint employer application left it up to the employer to say if they chose to offer coverage to domestic partners, same sex or otherwise. Obviously due to recent changes in state law and the state constitution with Proposition 8, and perhaps a change in company policy they decided to make some adjustments.  

It is interesting to note how other insurers are handling this political hot button and civil rights verses religious issue. Aetna for example assumes domestic partnerships to be covered the same as spouse, children,  or other dependant coverage,  and Aetna does not ask about gender as one of the requirements to qualify as a domestic partnership and have the domestic partner covered by the group health insurance benefits. Here is Aetna’s domestic partnership questionaire (pdf)

Overall it is interesting to note the change in insurance paperwork as we as a culture decide what is and what is not a marriage.