I’m glad to see gender neutral language appearing on official forms.

My employer recently distributed forms to re-enroll for health care benefits. Unfortunately, the rates of insurance have skyrocketed — an increase of over 25%!

On the form, there were boxes to tick, including “employee only,” or “employee + spouse.” I like that–the gender-neutrality of it. Doesn’t matter, straight or gay, a spouse is a spouse.

What was my response on this form?

My response was “waive.” That means that I declined my employer’s offer of health care benefits.

Why?

My spouse covers me with his health insurance plan, which is a terrific benefit of being married and having the Federal Government recognize our status as a married couple since the Supreme Court ruled that awful “Defense of Marriage Act” (section 3) as unconstitutional last June.

I also was particularly thrilled to tick the “decline” box because I would have had to pay an increase of over $2,000 for my health insurance premium deductions for the next 12 months.

There are tangible benefits to this marriage thing after all… 🙂

…now, if I can only get this “married filing jointly” thing to work out on our income taxes…

Life is short: love being married.