Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona legislature have sought to save money by cutting health-care benefits to about 600 HETEROSEXUAL domestic partners of state employees. They actually meant to save more than that. The legislative intent was to eliminate benefits for adult children and gay partners of state employees, in addition to the domestic partners of heterosexual state employees.
As luck would have it, the new health care law and the courts have nixed the Arizona plan. Arizona must continue to cover adult children and gay partners of state employees. The heterosexual domestic partners will bear the burden of this money saving legislation. Arizona plans to appeal the court decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Initially, Arizona would have restricted eligibility for benefits to all except a state employee’s spouse, a child under the age of 19, or a child under the age of 23 who is a fulltime student. The new healthcare act requires all adult dependents younger than 26 to be covered regardless of financial dependence, residency with parent, student status or marital status. Only an adult dependent who is eligible for health care through his own employer is exempted.
The philosophy behind restricting eligibility to heterosexual domestic partners seems to be that “they can get married”.
While the ultimate result may not be what the Arizona legislature intended, it’s a budget cutting method just the same.
