Workers Challenge Michigan Law Rescinding Health Insurance for Gay Partners
The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a law that bans public agencies from providing health insurance to the domestic partners of Michigan state employees.
Four state employees -- school teachers, city, and county workers -- and their partners have teamed up with the ACLU to file the federal lawsuit. Because of the new law, the registered domestic partners of public workers would lose health insurance.
"This is not about politics or ideology for us," Peter Ways, an Ann Arbor teacher and plaintiff in the suit, said in a statement. "This is about real families who are facing the real consequences of discriminatory laws. Just like our colleagues whose families will continue to receive health insurance, we want to care for our families."
Kary L. Moss, the executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, says the legislation was introduced as a cost-cutting measure, but it was really just intended to disenfranchise LGBT families. According to the organization, the promises of reducing state costs is inaccurate, because the cost of covering workers' domestic partners is less than 1% of the statewide health care budget. The state would also lose revenue because domestic partners were previously forced to pay taxes on their health insurance benefits.
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/01/06/Workers_Challenge_Michigan_Law_Rescinding_Health_Insurance_for_Gay_Partners/
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