In the state of Wisconsin, tens of thousands of LGBT couples and unmarried straight couples do not enjoy the same legal rights, safeguards, and security as married couples—in areas ranging from property ownership1 to family-medical leave2 to notification after one partner has been the victim of a crime3. Our laws explicitly give rights in these areas to married couples, but they make no provision for unmarried couples in long-term, committed relationships. This creates what we call the FAIRNESS GAP.
This information is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Fair Wisconsin does not render professional or legal services, and nothing contained in or linked to our Web site should be construed as legal advice (which always must be tailored to the facts of a particular case).
Chapter 3: Struggle for Affordable Healthcare Creates Extra Burden for LGBT Families
Ask any American, in any walk of life, from any part of this great nation, and you are likely to hear the same thing: in these challenging economic times, finding adequate and affordable healthcare coverage is a top concern. For LGBT Wisconsinites, the FAIRNESS GAP makes this an even greater struggle. In this chapter, we review the extra hurdles LGBT partners and their families face in obtaining affordable healthcare.
The facts are hard to ignore. Healthcare costs are soaring. Those fortunate enough to have a job with a healthcare plan realize that rising costs mean higher co-pays and fewer raises. By one estimate, since 2000, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have risen four times faster on average than workers’ earnings1.
Rising costs, higher co-pays and fewer choices are bad enough. But most LGBT partners are blocked from even accessing each others' health insurance plans! Thankfully, some enlightened Wisconsin companies do offer this benefit, including American Family Insurance, Miller Brewing, MG&E, and about 150 other private employers. So do a growing number of municipalities, such as La Crosse, and counties such as Dane County.
While the trend is going in the right direction, the sad fact is that a majority of private and public sector employees for whom this is an issue are simply denied access to their partner's healthcare. That means if either partners' employer does not offer insurance, or if one partner is in the workforce and the other is at home, half of their family may be without coverage. For these LGBT Wisconsinites, the health care crisis is not only about cost. It is about access – and fairness.
Equal access to healthcare should be a basic right afforded to all. Unfortunately, instead of helping Wisconsin's LGBT families to obtain healthcare, our laws make things worse. Here are two of the most egregious examples:
- LGBT partners are not allowed to use family and medical leave, under Section 103.10(3)(b) of the Wisconsin Statutes, to care for their partner when he or she has a serious health condition, while married Wisconsinites may use the leave to care for a "spouse" (specifically defined to mean a legal husband or wife).
- Neither the LGBT partner of a state employee nor his or her children may be considered "dependents" for purposes of obtaining health insurance coverage through the employee's group health insurance plan, under Section 40.02(20) of the Wisconsin Statutes, while a state employee's spouse and his or her dependent children will qualify.
These provisions limit thousands of families' access to healthcare. Both are being challenged in court as unconstitutional. The challenges relate to how "dependent" is defined for state employee insurance and what constitutes a "family member" for purposes of employee family leave. The argument is that they deny equal protection to same-sex domestic partners2. But a constitutional challenge is an extremely uphill battle. Courts have historically backed the Legislature's right to craft discriminatory laws in this area3.
For the foreseeable future, these legal obstacles to adequate and affordable coverage will continue to make our serious healthcare predicament a particularly acute crisis for LGBT families. Where the law should offer protection, it creates a gaping hole in these families' lives. That is the reality of the FAIRNESS GAP.
In the coming weeks and months, we will dedicate this space to sharing real life experiences of Wisconsin LGBT families seeking adequate and affordable healthcare in the face of unfair laws. If your voice has not been heard, we urge you to tell us your story about access to healthcare. Let your family put a face on the FAIRNESS GAP, so that one day it may be bridged through the visibility and hard work of those seeking healthcare justice in our state.
_____________________________________
1National Coalition on Health Care, Facts on the Cost of Health Care, available at www.nchc.org/facts/cost .shtml (citing the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Employee Health Benefits: 2007 Annual Survey).
2See Helgeland v. Wisconsin Municipalities, 2008 WI 9, 745 N.W.2d 1 (Feb. 7, 2008).
3See Phillips v. Wisconsin Personnel Com'n, 167 Wis.2d 205, 482 N.W.2d 121 (1992).
