Do you think these bills should pass and would you will be willing to contact your Senate or House representative to urge support?
The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act would provide domestic partnership benefits to all federal civilian employees on the same basis as spousal benefits. The senate bill is S.2521 and the house bill is HR. 4838 These benefits, available for same-sex domestic partners of federal employees, would include participation in applicable retirement programs, compensation for work injuries, and life and health insurance benefits.
As a federal employee, it would make a huge difference in our lives if I could share my health insurance benefits with my diabetic partner of 34 years. She commutes three hours a day to work for a nonprofit at low wages, simply for the health insurance benefits. Rather than working the stressful job and making the long commute, she could be taking the time to make herself healthier.
Absolutely YES I would be in favor of this. Until some kind of national or otherwise universally affordable healthcare is guaranteed to everyone, making these benefits available to family members of the insured is one of the best ways to help keep us all healthy and our nation strong. I think the practice of offering coverage to family members comes from an acknowledgment that society benefits when people who choose to live their lives together are supported in being able to take care of each other. These are pragmatic questions that have nothing to do with gender. Anything we can do to support families (realizing that the definition of “family” is a volatile topic for many and not something I want to get into here) should definitely be considered.
I no longer live in the States, but from I what I can understand this Act sounds like a very good thing. Your partner is your family, that simple. My fingers are crossed that it passes and assists all families that need it. Cheers
I would support this. I have a purely government related question though - this would obviously be a federal vs. a state bill which will make it VERY difficult to get it passed. There are federal employees in all states whose families would benefit from this but what about state employees? Would this create a difficult divide between state and federal employees who would both want these benefits? While domestic partnership benefits are comparatively less divisive of an issue than the legalization of same sex marriage, I still see more potential for representatives to oppose this because it’s a federal bill. Federal rights seem harder to secure than state rights (the Equal Rights Amendment, as an example).
Also, as a spouse of a federal employee, I’m only eligible for his health care benefits (though I am listed as the beneficiary on his life insurance and, I think, on his retirement benefits). This seems like asking for a BIG allocation and maybe the health insurance should be the priority here? Just a thought…
I would like to say, for the record, that as a religious person, I have never understood the fixation with lifestyle issues that many Christians (in particular) seem to have. Isn’t the “do unto others” thing a heck of a lot more important than whether you feel that your marriage is “threatened” by homosexuality? More importantly, if you are taking that tack with it, aren’t we talking more about where the line is drawn in the separation of church and state? Just my two cents worth.
My husband is proud to work for a company that provides domestic partnership benefits to its employees. I hope that this century will see progress toward respect for the rights of patients and the rights of patients’ partners to care for, visit, and extend their own medical benefits to those patients.
Regardless of definitions, however and whoever claims the right to define them.
We are closing this discussion at this time for 48 hours. This is not the place for the political debate of gay marriage, as that was not brought up in the original posting. TuDiabetes.com does not take political sides, we offer support to all people with diabetes, without regards to sexual orientation/politcial orientation/race/gender. We are a loving and supporting community and expect our members to have respect for one another.
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