FEDERAL GLOBE

ISSUE PAPER

Subject: Inclusion of Domestic Partners in Long Term Health Care Coverage

Background: Public Law 106-265 amended title 5, United States Code provides for the establishment of a program under which long term health care insurance is made available to Federal employees, members of the uniformed services, civilian and military retirees, and qualified relatives of the covered employee. Qualified relatives, according to the law, include a spouse, parent, stepparent, parent-in-law, child (including an adopted child, a stepchild. or, foster child if such child is at least 18 years of age), or an individual having such other relationship to the covered employee as the Office may by regulation prescribe.

During its initial implementation of this program, however, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) decided not to extend the program beyond those groups that the law specifically identified as being “qualified relatives.”

The law also requires that insured individuals be responsible for 100 percent of the charges of coverage and allows individuals to have amounts withheld from pay for their coverage and that of their qualified relatives. Consequently, other than administrative costs, the government does not contribute toward the insurance premiums.

Discussion: According to the House and Senate reports that accompanied the legislation, long-term care insurance was meant to help federal workers plan for the future and to protect themselves from the financial risks associated with the difficult challenge of providing long-term care and comfort to a loved one.

Both the House and Senate conference reports articulated the clear business reasons for the legislation. That is, to eliminate distractions and absences from work that reduce productivity by enabling employees to take care of their long term medical needs, and those of their family members in a financially responsible manner. Without this ability, the stress and distraction of worrying about how to provide for hospice, home, or nursing home care for loved ones negatively impacts the employee’s ability to achieve maximum productivity at work.

In their research, Congress found that employer-based plans represented the fastest growing market for long-term care insurance. These plans are part of the overall compensation packages offered to company employees and prospective applicants. They are generally available to the employer's employees, their spouses, parents, parents-in-law, and retirees on a beneficiary-pay-all basis. Many companies, such as Kodak and Hewlett-Package have also extended this coverage to the domestic partners of their employees.

Chairman Scarborough stated in Congressional Hearings related to this program that the number of participants in the federal program would measure success of the program, and that achieving maximum participation would require affordable premiums and an ability to satisfy the varying needs of a diverse population. OPM has also stated that their goal is to “insure as many participants as possible, and that they consider this program to be part of a modern, performance-oriented compensation system. The Chairman also noted that as one of the nation's largest employers, the federal program would serve as a model for employers throughout the country.

The law allows OPM to expand eligibility coverage in order to increase participation in the program and to include members of federal employee families who are not generally eligible for other Federal Government employee benefits. These include, unmarried brothers and sisters of employees and annuitants; adult children of the federal employee, and their spouses; and, other family members.

OPM also has the flexibility to expand long term health care insurance eligibility to domestic partners, whether they are heterosexual domestic partners, or the domestic partners of gay or lesbian federal employees. Federal GLOBE strongly encourages OPM to exercise this flexibility when they expand the program beyond those groups that were specifically identified in the legislation.

A significant number of Federal employees are in non-traditional permanent relationships. They, too, need the ability to provide long term health care insurance to their family members. Regardless of whether or not these household members are related by blood or the traditional definition of a nuclear marriage, the employee will still face financial ruin, greater absenteeism, and lower productivity if their partners, or household members, become seriously ill, and they do not have the ability to provide long term health care.

If OPM fails to expand coverage to all members of a Federal employee’s immediate household, such as in the case of permanent partners of same gender federal employees; or household members that function as family units based on affinity, affection, or financial inter-dependence, it would be a decision that would adversely impact the government’s ability to attract and retain the best and the brightest workers. In an era where Fortune 500 companies who compete for the same talent as the Federal Government, and who traditionally offer higher pay than the Federal government, include expanded family coverage as part of their companies overall compensation and benefits package, the Federal Government can afford to do no less.

Not only is this a matter of fairness, it is a business necessity.

Federal GLOBE is the umbrella organization for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender employee support groups in Federal workplaces. Its purpose is to eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the federal government based on sexual orientation by (1) developing and providing educational programs, materials and assistance mechanisms which address the distinctive concerns and problems of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals in the federal government and (2) educating the general public, policy makers, and federal employees about issues of concern to lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals.