Gay and Lesbian Partners Deserve Health Benefits

In the United States today, one to twelve percent of the population is homosexual (Gilbert, 17). In recent years, gay men, lesbians and bisexuals have been fighting long and hard to get the same rights and benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. Now, employers and health care providers are being forced to listen to their cries for equality. Should employers offer health benefits for domestic partners of gay employees? This question is forcing society to think about, and possibly change, what their definition of couple/family truly means.

As would be expected, most employers offer health benefits to their heterosexual employees and their families. Some companies cover the total cost of this benefit, others cover the bulk of the cost while the employee contributes a small amount each week out of their salary. In some instances, this can account for 25% of the employee's total wages (Partners-Domestic). Employers are using the excuse of high expenses as their main reason behind not offering these same benefits to their homosexual employees. They think it will cost them more in health care contributions for homosexual employees than it does for heterosexual ones. Their main concern? AIDS. In reality, many current domestic partner plans relate that: "Less than one percent of the workforce participates, AIDS health care benefit costs come to only about one-tenth those of a premature baby, gay men do not always get AIDS, and AIDS is not exclusive to gay men" (Partners-Domestic).

A major obstacle for gay employees is that their employers have to confront their employee's homosexuality; something many employers are afraid of, or refuse to do. Using the law as their scapegoat by say...

... middle of paper ...

...p.html. December 1995.

Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples. "Factoids on Domestic Partnership Benefits" 1995. Internet URL: http://www.eskimo.com/~demian/d-p-fac.html. Dec 1995.

Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples. "Partners National Survey of Lesbian and Gay Couples" 1995. Unternet URL: http://www.eskimo.com/~demian/survey.html. Dec 1995.

"Companies, Municipalities and Universities with Domestic Partnership Plans". Internet URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/dtw/www/companies.html.

"In the Superior Court For the State of Alaska Fourth Judicial District". Internet URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/domestic-partners/Tumeo_v_U_Alaska.txt

"University of Iowa Domestic Partner Coverage". Internet URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/domestic-partners/U-Iowa-costs.html.