Are California employers required to provide medical benefits to employees' domestic partners?

The California Insurance Equality Act (AB 2208), enacted on Sept. 13, 2004, requires California health care service plans and health insurers to provide coverage to registered domestic partners of employees, subscribers or policyholders. The Act permits partners to complete the Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State to become registered domestic partners. The coverage of AB 2208 extends to registered domestic partners that meet the following requirements:

• Neither person is married to someone else or is a member of another domestic partnership.
• The two persons are not related by blood in a way that would prevent them from being married to each other in this state.
• Both persons are at least 18 years of age.
• Both persons are capable of consenting to the domestic partnership.
  

The Act requires this coverage to be equal to the coverage provided to the spouse of an employee, subscriber, insured or policyholder.

Although the law does not directly require employers to provide health coverage for employees' domestic partners, because the Act mandates insurance companies to include registered domestic partners, an employer would not be able to purchase a fully insured plan with spousal coverage that excluded domestic partners under this law.  The law does not apply to self-insured health plans. Self-Insured plans may choose to cover only legally married spouses and exclude unmarried domestic partners.

In addition, the Insurance Nondiscrimination Act (California) was signed into law in October 2011 (effective Jan. 1, 2012) to expand and strengthen the California Insurance Equality Act. SB 757 closed a loophole in the Insurance Equality Act that allowed employers whose principal place of business and the majority of employees were located outside California to avoid providing equal coverage to registered domestic partners. Under the Insurance Nondiscrimination Act, all group health care plans and health insurance policies marketed, issued or delivered to a California resident must offer equal coverage for spouses and registered domestic partners, regardless of the location of the employer or the site of the contract or policy.