EXCLUSIVE: State Dept. considers phasing out DP benefits

[DonViejo]

6. Changes in coverage are coming...

More than 52% of midsize employers — defined as companies with 500 to 4,999 full-time employees — polled in August by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans said they cover domestic partnerships and civil unions under their employee benefit plans. After the Supreme Court's ruling, 75.4% of those employers said they intend to continue to offer benefits to domestic partners and civil unions at least for now.

“We are seeing a lot of midsize employers, especially in states that permit same-sex marriage, saying that they are planning to eventually do away with coverage for domestic partners, just not for this coming plan year,” said James Harmon, president of the employee benefits division at Cleveland-based Dawson Consulting Group, a subsidiary of AssuredPartners Inc.

A crucial factor in many mid-market employers' decisions about whether they will continue offering benefits to same-sex domestic partners likely will be the extent to which they also intend to cover opposite-sex domestic partners. Fifty-seven percent of mid-market employers polled in the recent survey said they do not cover opposite-sex domestic partners, and only one in five of those employers said they were considering doing so as a result of the Supreme Court's decision.

http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20131006/NEWS05/310069953?tags=%7C62%7C74%7C82%7C305