Term Paper on "Domestic Partners and Employment Benefits"

Term Paper 7 pages (2022 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Domestic Partners and Employment Benefits

Health Insurance for Same Sex and Unmarried Couples

The American health insurance system provides coverage of the medical expenses for both the employee, as well as for their family. However, the "family" concept is generally regarded throughout a limited perspective, only including the spouse of the employee, with the strict condition that they are of the opposite sex. This limitation lives out medical coverage for employees' domestic partners.

By domestic partners, one understands the unmarried employee's partner, be them straight or homosexual. Whichever the case, fact remains that these persons are not granted the legal spouse title and therefore, the employer does not offer them coverage for the medical expenses.

There are numerous reasons behind this malfunction of the insurance system, the most relevant of which being the imprecise legislature in the field of medical insurance. "Under federal law, most companies prohibit employment discrimination based on non-job-related factors such as race, sex, religion and marital status. No federal law offers similar protections to employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity either real or perceived." In other words, employers ought to treat all employees equally and respect their appurtenances and believes. In this order of ideas, they should grant medical insurance to both spouses and domestic partners. On the other hand, by being impartial and not protective of certain employees, managers might understand that not granting medical insurance to homosexuals and unmarried partners induces fairness towards straight, legally married employees. Hence, the vicious circle that resulted in the current chaos of domestic partners insurance, applied by employer as they find it most suitable.

The issue of the benefits granted to the domestic partners has been widely debated upon for several years now. However different the arguments and opinions, the phenomenon has been able to attract more and more supporters, leading towards an expansion of health insurance coverage.

2. Background information

However looked at, the phenomenon of not granting medical benefits to the families of all employees is a relevant form of discrimination, behavior unacceptable in the American society of the twenty first century.

According to the U.S. 2000 Census Bureau, there are currently about 11 million people living with an unmarried partner in the U.S. This includes both same-sex and different-sex couples. [...] There are 9.7 million Americans living with an unmarried different-sex partner and 1.2 million Americans living with a same-sex partner. 11% of unmarried partners are same-sex couples."

These statistics offer a clear understanding of the necessity to regulate the medical insurance system. The 11 million Americans, who have freely chosen to live their lives outside the boarders imposed by a stern society, are now paying the price for their choices. Considering that at least one member of these couples are employed within a company, this leaves an approximate number of 5.5 million Americans with no medical coverage, pressuring them as a punishment for not following the set of "silent moral rules" imposed by the society.

Placing more emphasis on the issue of domestic partners, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals: "41 per cent of American women of ages between 15 and 44 have cohabited (lived with an unmarried different-sex partner) at some point. This includes 9 per cent of women ages between 15 and 19, 38 per cent of women ages between 20 and 24, 49 per cent of women ages between 25 and 29, 51 per cent of women ages between 30 and 34, 50 per cent of women ages between 35 and 39, and 43 per cent of women ages between 40 and 44."

In other words, almost half of the entire feminine population of the United States of America has, at one point, lived outside marriage, and therefore, did not benefit from coverage of her medical expenses.

Expanding the research, Census 2000 reveals that "the number of unmarried couples living together increased by 72 per cent between 1990 and 2000." Also, "the number of unmarried couples living together has increased tenfold between 1960 and 2000."

Studies conducted by authorized human rights organizations have concluded that, even though increases have been registered, the number of employers offering benefits for both the worker and his/hers domestic partner is still low. Approximately "one forth of the American population works for an employer that offers domestic partner benefits." Furthermore, a closer analysis of the employers reveals that, generally, successful companies tend to offer their employees more benefits, including DP health insurance.

In a nutshell, a large number of U.S. citizens (11 million) are being denied their legal and medical rights based on their sexual appurtenances or marital status. Due to the considerable amount of work performed by the human rights organizations, more and more employers start to take the issue into further consideration and grant employees domestic partner benefits. However, the number of employers offering the benefits is still reduced (about 25 per cent) and the actions of the human rights organizations are far from being completed.

3. Possible CONS

The issue of granting coverage of the medical expenses for the domestic partners of the employees has numerous advocates, as well as disclaimers. The disclaimers of medical insurance for DP mostly base their arguments on social and financial factors. However, advocates of granting medical coverage for unmarried and homosexual partners believe that most of the disclaimers arguments can easily be defeated, and that in fact, they are based on prejudice and social hypocrisy.

Social factors

The supporters of domestic partners' medical benefits point out that the great majority of the disclaimers are convinced conservatories. These people are in fact against the whole idea of liberalization of the marital status and sexual conviction. They would normally like to maintain the social structure based on the perfect American family consisting of father legally married to the mother and their children. However, the family structure is following a continuous course of change and society, including conservatories, should learn how to accept and welcome families composed of unmarried parents or homosexual couples.

Old benefits models that rely on marriage to determine who is eligible for coverage ignore dramatic changes in the American family in recent years. In 1970, the percentage of households fitting the "traditional" definition of the family a husband and wife living with their children was 40%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 1998, only 25 per cent of the nation's 102 million households fit that definition. Meanwhile, the number of Americans living in unmarried partner households is large and growing rapidly."

Therefore, being unable to maintain the social structure as they believe it to be normal, disclaimers of unmarried and homosexual couples take a step backwards and attempt to deny these people their citizens' rights, leading to a clear case of discrimination. In a nutshell, the problem resides in individuals' way of thinking and their limited acceptance of what they do not know or understand, and results in a severe violation of human rights. The solution to this problem is not the undermining of domestic partners rights, but educating the population about "out of pattern" couples.

Another social factor generating the dispute between advocates and disclaimers of medical coverage for domestic partners results from the faulty legislation which leaves room for interpretation. Disclaimers state that allowing domestic partners to benefit from the medical insurance would be in the disadvantage of the straight, married employees. On the other hand, advocates of medical insurance for DP agree that not allowing the partners to benefit from the insurance system is a disadvantage towards them, and moreover, a violation of their rights.

Regardless of both points-of-view, fact remains that the unmarried and homosexual persons are being sexually and socially discriminated against as all employees should be equally remunerated, their wages only varying due to the quality and amount of their work. "Domestic partner benefits are a giant step toward equal pay for equal work. Benefits comprise nearly 40% of overall compensation. Many long standing benefits are based on the institution of marriage, and thus exclude gay and lesbian workers since no state recognizes same-sex marriages. This means that without domestic partner benefits, a significant portion of overall compensation is unattainable for gay and lesbian workers. The same is true for unmarried heterosexual couples who choose not to marry."

Financial factor

Yet another prejudice-based element against medical benefits for domestic partners regards the financial outcome upon the company as whole. Disclaimers of granting insurance to DP argue that in doing so, the employer would register high increases in its costs and would be faced with near bankruptcy situations. They could not be any more wrong!

First of all, "domestic partner benefits are good for business as they improve employees' productivity by alleviating personal stress that may keep them from focusing fully on work."

Second, "domestic partner benefits can have a positive impact on hiring and retention. DP benefits provide an inexpensive enhancement to the overall compensation package, and have become one of the hallmarks of a progressive company that values diversity. Indeed, domestic partner benefits… READ MORE

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