I’m glad to see gender neutral language appearing on official forms.<\/p>\n
My employer recently distributed forms to re-enroll for health care benefits. Unfortunately, the rates of insurance have skyrocketed — an increase of over 25%!<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
What was my response on this form?
\n
\nMy response was “waive.” That means that I declined my employer’s offer of health care benefits.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
There are tangible benefits to this marriage thing after all… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
…now, if I can only get this “married filing jointly” thing to work out on our income taxes…<\/p>\n
Life is short: love being married.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading