Unmarried gays losing health benefits

Many of the largest employers in Massachusetts are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after the state became the only one to legalize same-sex marriage.

Massachusetts companies, some of which pioneered so-called domestic-partner benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners, said they are now withdrawing them for reasons of fairness: If gays and lesbians can now marry, they should no longer receive special treatment in the form of health benefits that were not made available to unmarried, couples of the opposite sex.

Large employers terminating or phasing out domestic-partner benefits for some or all Massachusetts workers include IBM Corp., Raytheon Co., Emerson College, Northeastern University, the National Fire Protection Association, Boston Medical Center, Baystate Health System, and The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

"We're saying if you're a same-sex domestic partner, you now have the same option heterosexuals have, so we have to apply the same rules to you," said Larry Emerson, Baystate's vice president of human resources.

Health, dental and other benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners became a mainstay at large U.S. employers over the past decade, led by Cambridge-based Lotus Development Corp., which adopted them in 1991. After unemployment hit rock bottom during the economic boom in the late 1990s, about one in three Fortune 500 companies offered them to compete for top talent, though fewer small employers did.

No data are available on how many employers that offered the benefits are dropping them in Massachusetts. Typically, the proportion of employees who avail themselves of domestic-partner benefits is small, ranging from less than 1 percent at some employers to perhaps 2 percent.

Some companies now in the open-enrollment period for next year's benefits are informing gay employees they must marry to retain health benefits for partners. Some who are changing policies will drop domestic-partner benefits Jan. 1, while others gave employees up to a year to respond to the new marriage law. Baystate notified employees of the change in June and will grant extensions through December 2005 to gay employees considering whether to marry and preserve their benefits. The Springfield health system employs 9,000 in three Massachusetts hospitals, of which about 50 enrolled in domestic partner benefits.