Domestic Partnerships & Health Insurance (credit, income, live)

[nickw252]

My girlfriend and I are planning on moving to Arizona late in 2010 but because of some recent medical emergencies health insurance is one of our top priorities - if we were to register as domestic partners would her employer be able to cover me, or vice versa?

[ji603]

depends on her company's HR's policies, not state law. It can be done here. The only caveat is that you'll pay the 'family plan' premium which is deducted as usual from a paycheck, but the domestic partner coverage paid by the company is treated as a taxable benefit if you're not married.

The company I work for requires something like 3 out of the 5 following situations:

Lived together for a year
Joint credit/checking accounts
Not lived with anyone else in preceding year
One party supports the other >75%
Can't remember the others but you get the point.

So for example if the true cost to the company for a family plan is 800/month, and you pay your share, the remainder gets added to Box 1 on a W2 at the end of the year and treated as income. Not a huge deal, especially considering that you get to piggyback on an HMO without being married, but something to keep in mind.

[nickw252]

Okay that sounds somewhat reassuring - I just can't have any sort of lapse in coverage or else I'll be stuck with another pre-existing condition and have to pay any new costs out of pocket.

[AksarbeN]

Arizona has dropped the SCHIP program for children its affecting 40,000 +/- of them. Because of budget issues the state may also drop other health programs for others. The state governor wants to fight the federal on the new healthcare bill so there may not be much in the way of any health coverage in the state unless you have insurance.

[KarmaPhx]

With my company, my fiancee is covered under my health insurance, I just had to get a domestic partnership affidavit notarized saying we have lived together for over 12 months and share bills.
This is a cigna HSA account FYI.