The Kaine administration has started the rulemaking process that could result in state employees being able to choose either to include either a spouse or an “otherwise qualified adult” on their state health insurance plan.

Equality Virginia has been working to achieve this goal for the past year. These efforts finally have resulted in publication of a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action that is the first step in a long process that will not conclude until months after Governor-elect McDonnell takes office in January.

To move this proposal from suggestion to reality, EV needs your help.

First, we need to build strong support for the need for this change in the state health insurance plan. Public comments on the need for the change are being accepted now through December 23, 2009 on the Virginia Register’s town hall site.

It is critically important that you file a positive public comment supporting the need for access to health care insurance benefits for “otherwise qualified adults” living in the households of state employees. Following is some information you can use in making your comments.

Key Positive Points to Make
• This proposal would permit employees an additional choice of health insurance coverage available at their expense.
• If offered, health insurance coverage would be available to some adults and children who might otherwise be uninsured.
• Offering such benefits will bring state agencies and higher education institutions in line with prevailing benefits practices of employers of choice in Virginia and across the nation, and enhance recruiting and retention of the best and the brightest. 66% of the top private employers in Virginia offer such benefits. Almost 60% of the Fortune 500 companies choose to offer such expanded benefits to their employees. At least 12 Virginia-based Fortune 500 or Fortune 1000 companies offer such benefits including: Altria Group, Capital One, CarMax, Dominion Resources, Gannett, Genworth, MCI Group, MeadWestvaco, Owens & Minor, Philip Morris USA, SprintNextel, and SLM Corp. (Sallie Mae).

Answers to Issues Raised by Critics
• The proposal would not cost the taxpayers anything. Employees would have to pay 100% of the cost of OQA premiums for coverage. This would be in contrast to current state benefits that pay over 80% of the cost of premiums for employees, spouses and covered dependents.
• Only one adult in an employee’s household (either a spouse or an “otherwise qualified adult”) could be covered;
• Opportunity for abuse would be limited because, to qualify as an OQA, the adult would have to have lived in the employee's household for 12 months and would have to be domiciled in Virginia (and, therefore, a Virginia taxpayer if he/she has taxable income); and
• A person who is an employee in the household or a tenant, boarder, or roomer would not qualify as an OQA;
• The proposal would not violate the so-called marriage amendment. The language of the proposal tracks the framework okayed by McDonnell in his opinion to John Casteen on UVA gym benefits. The proposal tracks similar programs in place at Michigan state universities, where there is also a constitutional amendment prohibiting recognition of same-sex relationships, and at Georgetown University, a private Catholic university.

With your help, we can move this very modest proposal from concept to reality.

Enter your comment on the Town Hall website now.

More information on this proposal can be found under Issues on our Families Health Care Page.