Out in the Mountains

Blue Cross

Continued from page 1

However, Liz Dayan, a New York City
based benefits consultant has found that
“coverage for gay and lesbian domestic
partners has in many cases been less ex-
pensive...because they tend to be young-
er and less likely to have a pregnancy.”

Back home, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of
Vermont has been studying the cost ef-
fectiveness of domestic partner benefits
by issuing a rider for groups in its Cost-
Plus program. According to Saudek,
they have found “no negative impacts”.
The eligibility criteria that two ap-
plicants, or “parties”, must meet in order
to qualify as domestic partners include
being the “sole domestic partner of the
other”, “at least eighteen years of age”,
sharing “a common legal residence” and
having shared this residence for at least
six months, not being married to anyone
else or being related to a degree that
would make marriage illegal, be “jointly

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LYNN GOYETTE, M.s., MA.

Licensed Clinical
Mental Health Counselor

announce their affiliation as the

COUNSELING CENTER or NORTHERN VERMONT

with offices in
Burlington
860-6360

Montpelier
229-5220

insurance accepted

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R. D. 2, BOX 1160
FAIRFAX, VERMONT 05454

responsible for basic living expenses”,
and “in a relationship of mutual support,
caring, and commitment and intend to
remain in such a relationship in the in-
definite future.”

In reaction to more stringent criteria set
by other employers and insurance com-
panies, such as Middlebury College’s
policy which differentiates between
jointly owning a home and jointly rent-
ing a residence, Saudek said, “Basically,
we are not asking for anything that we
would not ask of married partners.” In
order to qualify, the parties must also at-
test that “neither party filed a Termina-
tion of Domestic Partnership within the
preceding nine months.” The nine
months, according to Saudek, is similar
to the time taken to get a divorce. This
is another example of how Blue Cross/
Blue Shield of Vermont has designed its
domestic partnership policy to be similar
to legal marriage.

Studies show that only a small per-
centage of those eligible for domestic
partnership benefits usually opt for
them. The reasons may include the tax
that must be paid to the Internal Rev-
enue Service for the value of the benefit
since it is considered income, or the fact
that the partner may already be covered
by his or her own insurance policy. Al-

\though specific figures were not avail-

able, Saudek felt that the percentage of
eligible employees who accept the ben-
efit will be “relatively higher” at Blue
Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont since
“the coverage is so rich, so good, many
who can choose it, will.”

Another reason often cited as to why
many do not want to sign the appropriate
legal documents in order to receive the
benefit is a want, or need, not to divulge
his or her sexual orientation to the em-
ployer. This is an issue at Blue Cross/
Blue Shield of Vermont since such pa-
perwork is kept as part of the personnel
file. Although this file is considered

“limited access”, any supervisor, in-
cluding those checking on internal job
candidates, would be able to acquire in-
formation on an employee's sexual or-
ientation. Saudek said that they are con-
sidering “keeping these files, benefits
documents, separately because of this
issue.” They will probably take on such
a project, Saudek admitted in a recent
phone interview, but it is only being con-
sidered at the moment.

Saudek painted a very simple picture in
describing the process of adding these
benefits. “Some of our customers asked
for it. Some of our employees asked for
it...The suggestion was made and (the
policy was) adopted. There was no neg-
ative discussion.” Does Blue Cross/
Blue Shield have any regrets concerning
this change? Saudek said that it was
“the right response for changing times.”
V

103rd Congress
Voting Record

The following scoring is based on the
NGLTF’s rating of U.S. Senators and
Representatives votes on key issue sof
concern to lesbians and gay men during
the l03rd session of Congress.

Vermont: Patrick Leahy (D) 100%
James Jeffords (R) 78%
Bernard Sanders (I) 100%
Maine: William Cohen (R) 67%
George Mitchell (D) 89%
T. Andrews (D) 100%
Olympia Snowe (R) 29%

New Hampshire:
R. Smith (R) 11%
Judd Gregg (R) 33%
Zeliff (R) 0%
Swett (D) 43%

Stephanie Buck, M.A.

individuals - couples - groups

Elm Street Feminist Counseling

155 Elm Street - Montpelier, VT 05602 - 802 223-7173

10