Thursday, November 28, 2002
American Family Insurance extends domestic partner health benefits
A story released today by the Capital Times reports that American Family Insurance, Madison, Wisconsin's largest private employer, will extend health benefits to domestic partners.
Beginning in 2003, the company's health plan options will include the domestic partners benefit for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples and their dependent children.
American Family's health care plan applies to its 7,800 employees nationwide, including 3,500 in Madison. American Family officials said the change, which had been discussed internally for several years, was purely a business decision. It is not expected to increase costs or raise premiums, which jumped an average of 16 percent for American Family employees in 2003.
"We continually review all of our benefit plans to make sure they are consistent with our human resources mission of attracting and retaining highly skilled and motivated employees," said Vicki Chvala, American Family's vice president of human resources.
Two Wisconsin companies included in the survey, Racine-based SC Johnson & Son and Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co., offer health insurance coverage to same-sex domestic partners.
The state of Wisconsin, on the other hand, doesn't provide such coverage, said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison. Legislation has been introduced at the state level but has failed to find much traction.
"I applaud American Family but once again this shows the state is lagging behind in terms of providing equal pay for equal work," Pocan said.
Some local units of government, such as Dane County, the Madison Metropolitan School District and the city of Madison, do provide those benefits.
