The Office of Personnel Management is being sued by a woman married to a woman because it is blocking her wife from receiving federal health insurance benefits available to spouses.
OPM has refused to obey a federal judge’s administrative order telling the agency to rescind a directive to Karen Golinski’s health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, that said her spouse is not eligible to receive family health insurance benefits.
Agency officials reluctantly refused to obey the order, even though the Obama administration supports legislation that would allow health insurance benefits for same-gender partners of federal employees and the repeal of a law that defines marriage as a union between a man and woman.
“OPM must administer the FEHBP [Federal Employees Health Benefits Program] in a lawful manner, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has advised the OPM that providing those benefits would violate the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act,’ ” OPM General Counsel Elaine Kaplan said in a written statement last month.
Golinski, a lawyer employed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, wed in California when the state permitted same-sex marriages. Her lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday, asks the court to direct OPM to obey the order Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th circuit, previously issued in his administrative capacity.
“It’s a bit shocking that we’ve reached this point with the Obama administration. Where is our ‘fierce advocate’ for LGBT rights?” said Jennifer C. Pizer, National Marriage Project director for Lambda Legal and co-counsel for Golinski. “Simply defying his orders is a slap in the face to Karen and the entire LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community and bizarrely disrespects the judiciary. At a minimum, federal courts have the power and responsibility to end discrimination against their own employees.”
Federal law does not require employers to provide health insurance benefits and coverage to the same-sex spouses and domestic partners. If your employer does not cover your same-sex partner, check your state laws whether health insurance plans extended to the spouses of the beneficiary are required to cover the same-sex couples.
For example, in New York, the same-sex couples in marriages validly performed outside of New York must be treated as spouses for the purposes of New York Insurance Laws, including health insurance. Thus, if an employer chooses to extend its employees’ health insurance coverage to spouses, other family members, or dependents, the employer may not distinguish between types of spouses or other such persons in a manner that is unlawfully discriminatory
Source: The Washington Post
