4- OUT IN THE MouN'rAINs — Ocroaen 1999 I EDITORIAL a Let All Employers D0. The Right Thing woman who works for the City of Winooski will soon be receiving health insurance coverage for her - partner. They will be able to move forward with plans to have children together, comfort- able in the knowledge that their medical needs will be taken care of. It wasn’t a simple process; the coverage didn't materialize overnight. But it started with a question: “Can I get domestic partner- ship health benefits?” If all goes as planned and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vennont does indeed begin offering domestic-partner coverage to all employers, regardless of size, on January 1, 2000, it will be because someone asked for it_. Even with the road paved, it is unlikely all employers will acquire the coverage without a vested interest. 9 Maybe the owner of your small place of business ‘has a domestic partner of her own and will jump at the opportunity to sign up on January 1. Maybe you’re really lucky and have an employer who empathizes with your situation, regardless of his own, and will seek the newly available coverage because it is the right thing to do. Maybe you work for a per- son acutely aware of the high cost of recruit- ing and training new employees who sees the wisdom in adding this benefit to attract and keep good employees. Then again, maybe not. There’s a very good chance you will have to ask your employer to do the right thing. So do it. Let your employer know that you need and want this benefit previously denied to you because you don’t have access to legal marriage. Tell the person in charge that this is important to you. In this time of extremely low unemploy- ment rates, you’ll find businesses more eager than ever to make their employees happy, par- ticularly when the ground-breaking has already been done. The Next Step State Representative Bill Lippert wants to make domestic partnership benefits a manda- tory offering from all insurance companies doing business in Vermont. Banking, Insurance, Securities, and Health Care Administration Commissioner Elizabeth Costle says she doesn’t think insurers would go ballistic over such legislation, but accord- ing to Blue Cross Blue Shield, she is wrong. “We categorically oppose all mandated benefits,” said Bob Opel, vice president and general counsel for BCBS. He warns of high- er administrative costs to employers that do not get compensated when new coverage is required. But the bigger issue for the state’s largest insurance company is potential lost business. Their fear is that with increased mandatory coverage, larger businesses would opt to self- insure, thereby avoiding the forced coverage. This could put a big dent in the bottom line of insurance companies — if it were to happen. But would it really happen? In order to self-insure and avoid the forced coverage, the employer would have to have a pretty hefty bottom line. And the four largest employers in the state already offer domestic partnership benefits. As a matter of fact, 29 large group compa- nies employing 49,000 Vermonters already take advantage of domestic partnership bene- fits through BCBS alone. Apparently, a great number of our large companies agree with Representative Lippert’s belief that there’s nothing radical about the idea of domestic partnership bene- fits anymore. It is a good idea and it’s time that the smaller employers were given the opportunity to do the right thing by their employees. V ACORN Addison County Parent Child Center Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance American Express Financial Advisors Bell Atlantic Barnes _& Noble * Battenki|IVa||ey Supervisory Union School District Ben & jerry’s Corporation Bennington College Bennington Southwest Supervisory Union School District Blackwood Associates Blue Cross/Blue Shield ofVermont Border's Books Brattleboro Area AIDS Project Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Brattleboro Retreat Champlain College Charles Schwab & Co. City of Burlington City of Winooski Concept’Il ‘ Costco Wholesale Counseling Service of Addison County Craftsbury Community Care Center Digital Equipment Corporation Fletcher Allen Health Care Gap, Inc. Gardener’s Supply Goddard College Howard Center for Human Services IBM IDS Financial Services IDX Systems Corporation Landmark College Langrock Sperry &Wool Liberty Mutual Insurance Group Lotus Graphics A PARTIAL LISTING OF VERMONT EMPLOYERS PROVIDING DOMESTIC PARTNER HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS Marlboro College Marriott Middlebury College Merrill Lynch The Nature Conservancy Vermont Chapter Northeast Cooperatives Onion River Coop _ Planned Parenthood of Northern New England Principal Financial Group Putney School . Radisson Hotel Burlington (Wyndam International) Rutland City Southwest Supervisory Union School District . Saint Michael's College School for International Training Spectrum Youth & Family Services State ofVermont Sheraton Burlington Town of Middlebury United Airlines ‘ University ofVermont Vermont Adult Learning Vermont Bar Association Vermont CARES Vermont Girl Scouts Council Vermont Law School Vermont State Colleges Vermont State Employees Credit Union Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) Washington Northeast Supervisory Union School District Compiled by Rep. Bill Uppert - Sept. I5, I999 To add to this list, email BillLipper@ao|.com or call 482-3528 _ 9 Gary Smith Pam Kinniburgh 8. Sandy Reeks, ,_j *{—cmcmn‘o‘~ MANAGER} I‘ * I = Kevin McAteer 1- ADVERTISING — ' , * Mary Bouvier Columnists: Crow Cohen, Charles Emoncl, Rev. Brendan’ Haclash,Thomas r Hennihg, Rev. Christine Leslie, Susan Murray, Beth Robinson, "Esther Rolhblum, Miki Thomas contributors: Paij Wadley-Bailey, Chuck Colbert, Tim Evans, Butch Mckay, Ernie McLeod, Dan Peabody, Cathy Resmer, Larry Rudiger, Maxwell Stroud, Chris Tebbetts, Photographers: ScotApplegale, Mary ‘ Bouvier, Sandy Milens,‘Jordan ' Silverman‘ cartoonists: Alison Bechclel, Robert Kirby, En‘c Omer ;MoumrN PRIDEiMEDIA- . BOARD or Drnacrons Judy Beaulac, Cheryl Carmi, Sarah Harrington, Thomas Henlning, Bennett Law,-JimlPetrie; Kevin McAtear, Roland Palrr_ié_r,° Carrie Flampp, Joseph Ryan, Richard Slappey, I Oulin the’ was founded in 1986 wilh start ,. ..nP Lo par realm Un'fed$tale$°fAmerica..’ L I I @1999 ‘Oulin“lheMaunlalns_"..‘ V ; ‘ _ our in theilloiintafnsi " apoeoxiora C . . Richmond vr,o5477.1qo7fa “ “ ‘Friar; (8'O2)f4'34-OlTM_f3 * gr-fAxi(8o2) 434-7046*” 9 _ oitrn@together.net, .