Editorial
Editorial
Let All Employers Do The Right Thing
A woman who works for the City of Winooski will soon be receiving health insurance coverage for her partner. They will be able to move forward with plans to have children together, comfortable in the knowledge that their medical needs will be taken care of.
It wasn’t a simple process; the coverage didn’t materialize overnight. But it started with a question: "Can I get domestic partnership health benefits?"
If all goes as planned and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont does indeed begin offering domestic-partner coverage to all employers, regardless of size, on January 1, 2000, it will be because someone asked for it. Even with the road paved, it is unlikely all employers will acquire the coverage without a vested interest.
Maybe the owner of your small place of business has a domestic partner of her own and will jump at the opportunity to sign up on January 1. Maybe you’re really lucky and have an employer who empathizes with your situation, regardless of his own, and will seek the newly available coverage because it is the right thing to do. Maybe you work for a person acutely aware of the high cost of recruiting and training new employees who sees the wisdom in adding this benefit to attract and keep good employees.
Then again, maybe not. There’s a very good chance you will have to ask your employer to do the right thing. So do it. Let your employer know that you need and want this benefit previously denied to you because you don’t have access to legal marriage. Tell the person in charge that this is important to you. In this time of extremely low unemployment rates, you’ll find businesses more eager than ever to make their employees happy, particularly when the ground-breaking has already been done.
The Next Step
State Representative Bill Lippert wants to make domestic partnership benefits a mandatory offering from all insurance companies doing business in Vermont. Banking, Insurance, Securities, and Health Care Administration Commissioner Elizabeth Costle says she doesn’t think insurers would go ballistic over such legislation, but according to Blue Cross Blue Shield, she is wrong.
"We categorically oppose all mandated benefits," said Bob Opel, vice president and general counsel for BCBS. He warns of higher administrative costs to employers that do not get compensated when new coverage is required.
But the bigger issue for the state’s largest insurance company is potential lost business. Their fear is that with increased mandatory coverage, larger businesses would opt to self-insure, thereby avoiding the forced coverage. This could put a big dent in the bottom line of insurance companies — if it were to happen.
But would it really happen? In order to self-insure and avoid the forced coverage, the employer would have to have a pretty hefty bottom line. And the four largest employers in the state already offer domestic partnership benefits.
As a matter of fact, 29 large group companies employing 49,000 Vermonters already take advantage of domestic partnership benefits through BCBS alone.
Apparently, a great number of our large companies agree with Representative Lippert’s belief that there’s nothing radical about the idea of domestic partnership benefits anymore. It is a good idea and it’s time that the smaller employers were given the opportunity to do the right thing by their employees.
A Partial Listing of Vermont Employers Providing
Domestic Partner Health Insurance Benefits
- ACORN
- Addison County Parent Child Center
- Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance
- American Express Financial Advisors
- Bell Atlantic
- Barnes & Noble
- Battenkill Valley Supervisory Union School District
- Ben & Jerry's Corporation
- Bennington College
- Bennington Southwest Supervisory Union School District
- Blackwood Associates
- Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont
- Border's Books
- Brattleboro Area AIDS Project
- Brattleboro Memorial Hospital
- Brattleboro Retreat
- Champlain College
- Charles Schwab & Co.
- City of Burlington
- City of Winooski
- Concept II
- Costco Wholesale
- Counseling Service of Addison County
- Craftsbury Community Care Center
- Digital Equipment Corporation
- Fletcher Allen Health Care
- Gap, Inc.
- Gardener's Supply
- Goddard College
- Howard Center for Human Services
- IBM
- IDS Financial Services
- IDX Systems Corporation
- Landmark College
- Langrock Sperry & Wool
- Liberty Mutual Insurance Group
- Lotus Graphics
- Marlboro College
- Marriott
- Middlebury College
- Merrill Lynch
- The Nature Conservancy Vermont Chapter
- Northeast Cooperatives
- Onion River Coop
- Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
- Principal Financial Group
- Putney School
- Radisson Hotel Burlington (Wyndam International)
- Rutland City Southwest Supervisory Union School District
- Saint Michael's College
- School for International Training
- Spectrum Youth & Family Services
- State of Vermont
- Sheraton Burlington
- Town of Middlebury
- United Airlines
- University of Vermont
- Vermont Adult Learning
- Vermont Bar Association
- Vermont CARES
- Vermont Girl Scouts Council
- Vermont Law School
- Vermont State Colleges
- Vermont State Employees Credit Union
- Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC)
- Washington Northeast Supervisory Union School District
Compiled by Rep. Bill Lippert - Sept. 15, 1999
To add to this list, email BillLipper@aol.com
or call 802-482-3528.