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evan_essence
05-09-2005, 12:05 AM
... I'd have absolutely no objection to legalizing lesbian marriage, both on 'personal union' grounds, and because any lesbian dependents of large corporations or fed/state/local govt's or gov't contractors ... would not have to shoulder very much in the way of new health care costs.Okay, we've got you halfway there; now to address the rest.



... When a certain group, for example smokers or skydivers, seeks medical insurance, the law allows insurance companies to charge them higher premiums based on the fact that their behavoir/lifestyle directly contributes to a higher probability of the need for high cost treatments. Gay men certainly have been proven to be such a group based on AIDS statistics. However, unlike smokers or skydivers, gay men are seeking to use existing law and contracts regarding married dependent coverage to avoid having to pay higher insurance premiums themselves, and instead shift those very significant insurance costs associated with their high risks to everybody else.You've unintentionally made an excellent point with an incorrect observation. In fact, smokers and skydivers DO use existing law and contracts regarding married dependent coverage to avoid having to pay higher insurance premiums themselves and shifting those very significant insurance costs associated with their high risks to everybody else. Offering group insurance to gay spouses would be no different than the already existing practice of offering group rate coverage to straight spouses who are smokers, skydivers or otherwise high risk. Therefore, we've eliminated the argument that it wouldn't be fair because other high-risk dependents aren't doing it. They are.


I wouldn't be harping on this if we weren't talking about an astronomical amount of money.People who took the same financial attitude toward slave ownership were against abolishing it. The relevant issue was one of civil rights for a group of people who were denied the same rights others had. I really don't see the financial argument as being germane to the issues of either slavery or gay marriage, but I'm trying to provide at least some reasons other than civil rights to view the financial argument against gay marriage as weak.


I also wouldn't be harping about this if the USA had public health coverage such that the $1,000,000 in typical medical costs per AIDS patient didn't have to be picked up by private employers and local govt's. But consider the example of a self-insured 100 worker business, with a net annual profit of $10,000 per employee (which is optimistic these days). Having to cover the expenses associated with just one dependent AIDS case would absorb every single dollar of profit produced by the hard work of those 100 employees. As expensive as MedicAid benefits might be to the public coffers, they do not directly bankrupt businesses and put 100 people out of work.The operative word in your assertion is directly. You haven't claimed that the cost of Medicaid taxes don't put people out of work. What you could have said is that it's not so visibly obvious who is put out of work by this siphoning of business investment and consumer spending money to Medicaid. Therefore, maybe some people feel better about it.

As far as public health coverage such that private employers don't have to pick up astronomical AIDS costs, once again, you've unintentionally provided the answer to your own concerns. I know of nothing in the law stopping group health plans from setting yearly or lifetime limits on coverage for policy holders. A lifetime limit could apply to individuals across the board equally, be they a two-packs-a-day straight spouse with lung cancer, an HIV-positive gay spouse, or a bisexual spouse with connective tissue disease caused by too many elective cosmetic surgeries. Once a dependent hit the limit, Medicare would become primary coverage for the dependent because, with that type of chronic condition, they're likely to qualify for Medicare as disabled. Ta da! Just what you asked for.

-Ev