Jay Hancock of Kaiser Health News notes that the Supreme Court decision granting same-sex couples the right to marry in any state is likely to boost employer coverage of same-sex couples:
The logic is simple. Fewer than half of employers that offer health benefits make the insurance available to same-sex partners who aren’t married. Virtually all of them offer coverage to spouses.Footnote: as-yet-unmarried gay employees whose employers do currently offer health insurance to partners will, if they marry, be able to get that coverage on a tax-free basis.
By marrying partners with employer health plans, people in same-sex relationships are likely to get coverage in states that banned gay marriage until now, as well as in those that welcomed it. Thanks to rapidly shifting legal ground, 37 states recognized gay marriage before last week’s ruling, up from nine in 2012.
