Out In The Mountains : Blue Cross Blue Shield to Cover Domestic Partners

Vermonters will soon have access to health insurance coverage for their domestic partners regardless of the size of their employers — but it will cost them marginally more than it does their married counterparts.

Effective January 1, 2000, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont plans to offer domestic partnership coverage to all groups they insure, no longer restricting the benefits to organizations with 50 or more employees.

The insurance company said it will have to process additional paperwork to protect itself against fraud, and will be charging an administrative fee to recoup that cost.

"We bear the risk of someone affiliating solely for insurance purposes and need to own the administration," said Bob Opel, vice president and general counsel to BCBS.

Elizabeth Costle, Commissioner of Vermont’s Banking, Insurance, Securities, and Health Care Administration, said that requiring a sworn affidavit is standard practice among insurers in cases of domestic partnership. No such proof is required for heterosexual married couples.

Opel admitted that he did not have an easy explanation for the difference in requirements. "Marriage is a status that’s pervasive and legal and has a definition and a reality that is independent of insurance. Domestic partnership really is just an insurance status," he said. "We’ve tried to come up with criteria that eliminate the differences to give folks that want it surrogate coverage."

Although the difference in requirements may seem inequitable on the surface, State Representative Bill Lippert of Hinesburg points out that it has a logical basis. "Whether you’re required to produce a copy of it or not, there is a sworn legal document to back up a claim of marriage," he said. "Right now, there is no such thing for domestic partners. The affidavit they’re requiring serves that purpose."

The amount of the administrative fee has not yet been determined. In the past, companies with more than 50 employees have handled the verification task themselves. BCBS is still unsure what it will cost the company to process the affidavits. "One of the principles of a health plan with limited capitalization is that we can’t and won’t do things that people won’t or can’t pay for," Opel said.

The initial plan was to add a monthly charge of about one dollar for each domestic partner rider, but Costle said she thought that would be too high to justify. Opel said the current plan looks more like a one-time set up fee with a goal of merely recovering additional costs. "[Commissioner Costle] has made it clear that there had better be a clear rationale behind the dollar amount," he said.

Opel said his company plans to have the proposed changes filed with the Banking, Insurance, Securities, and Health Care Administration in early October. BISHCA then has 60 days to respond; if the answer is positive, the company could start offering the benefits immediately.

BCBS might be the first, but soon might not be the only Vermont company offering these benefits. Lippert plans to ask the legislature to "look at requiring all insurance companies to offer domestic partner benefits to everyone." He called difference in benefits simple inequity.

"It creates unequal compensation for employees who are working side by side," Lippert said. "The married heterosexual gets higher level of compensation by benefit of coverage for their spouse, as opposed to a heterosexual who isn’t married for whatever reason or the gay employee without access to the institution of marriage." He will ask the legislative counsel to draft a bill for consideration in the 2000 session.

Domestic partnership benefits became a priority for BCBS earlier this year when an independent arbitrator ruled that the City of Winooski, a small group employer covered by the Berlin, Vermont-based insurance company, must provide benefits for the partner of one the city’s police officers.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Qualifications for Domestic Partnership

Must be an arrangement between two people and only two people.

Both parties must 18 or over.

Must share a residence and have done so for at least 6 months prior to application.

Must not be blood relatives such that they would be precluded from legal marriage.

Parties much provide mutual support caring and commit and intend to continue indefinitely in that relationship.

Must assume joint responsibility for living expenses, but not necessarily equal monetary contribution to the household.

Both parties must agree that both are responsible.

Neither party may have filed a termination of domestic partnership in the previous 9 months.

Neither can be married to anyone.