Massachusetts Bill Would Expand Health Insurance Benefits For Polyamorous Cambridge City Employees’ Partners

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2023/02/22/massachusetts-bill-would-expand-health-insurance-benefits-for-polyamorous-cambridge-city-employees-partners/

Cambridge city councilors want to offer city employees in polyamorous relationships health insurance for every partner in their relationship.

Massachusetts law currently prevents the city from doing so, but a bill on Beacon Hill would change that.

State Representative Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge) filed a home rule petition on behalf of the Cambridge City Council that would make the necessary changes. Her bill is called “An Act Expanding the Definition of Dependent for the Purposes of Municipal Employee Benefits As To the City of Cambridge” (HD.4118).

On January 9, 2023, the Cambridge City Council unanimously passed a policy order to expand health insurance benefits to those in polyamorous relationships.

City councilors Quinton Zondervan, Denise Simmons, and Sumbul Siddiqui, the city’s mayor, sponsored the policy order. They voted in favor of it, as did Burhan Azeem, Alanna Mallon, Marc McGovern, Patricia Nolan, and Paul Toner. Councilor Dennis Carlone was absent from the meeting but has previously told NewBostonPost in an email message that he supports the measure.

Under the proposal, if a member of a polyamorous relationship works for the city and has employer-sponsored health insurance, that person’s partners would be eligible for those same health insurance benefits — if the Massachusetts legislature and Governor Maura Healey approve the proposed home rule petition.

Here is the petition, which the Cambridge City Council approved on January 9:

 

An Act expanding the definition of Dependent for the purposes of municipal employee benefits as to the city of Cambridge

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in the City of Cambridge, for Group Insurance Commission coverage purposes as established by General Laws Chapter 32B, any domestic partner in a registered domestic partnership with an employee of the City of Cambridge, shall be a “dependent” and shall be entitled to participate in the election of coverages and benefits provided by the Group Insurance Commission to City of Cambridge employees.

SECTION 2. Any member of a registered domestic partnership with the City of Cambridge shall be considered a “spouse” with respect to all spousal rights established by the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

SECTION 3. Any surrogate bearing a child in surrogacy for a city employee, their spouse or domestic partner in a registered domestic partnership, shall be considered a dependent for 12 months from the start of the pregnancy.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

 

The city lacks the authority to make the change by itself. It requires a state statute to enable the proposed local policy. In the 1999 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case Connors v. Boston, the court struck down an executive order issued by then-Boston Mayor Tom Menino that sought to give health insurance benefits to city employees in registered domestic partnerships.

At the time, same-sex civil-law marriage was not legal in Massachusetts, and same-sex couples were the primary beneficiaries of domestic partnerships.

In that instance, however, the relationships were theoretically monogamous.

Here is the text of Decker’s bill, which explains how the changes needed to make the Cambridge proposal a reality:

 

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, in the City of Cambridge, for Group Insurance Commission coverage purposes as established by General Laws Chapter 32B, any domestic partner in a registered domestic partnership with an employee of the City of Cambridge, shall be a “dependent” and shall be entitled to participate in the election of coverages and benefits provided by the Group Insurance Commission to City of Cambridge employees.

SECTION 2. Any member of a registered domestic partnership with the City of Cambridge shall be considered a “spouse” with respect to all spousal rights established by the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

SECTION 3. Any surrogate bearing a child in surrogacy for a city employee, their spouse or domestic partner in a registered domestic partnership, shall be considered a dependent for 12 months from the start of the pregnancy.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

 

Currently, Section 32B does not include domestic partners under its definition of “dependent.” It’s a section of Massachusetts law titled “Contributory group general or blanket insurance for persons in the service of counties, cities, towns and districts, and their dependents.”

Here is how that section of Massachusetts law defines “dependent”:

 

”Dependent”, an employee’s spouse, an employee’s unmarried children under 19 years of age and any child 19 years of age or over who is mentally or physically incapable of earning the child’s own living; provided, however, that any additional premium which may be required shall be paid for the coverage of such child 19 years of age or over; provided further, that ”dependent” shall also include an unmarried child 19 years of age or over who is a full-time student in an educational or vocational institution and whose program of education has not been substantially interrupted by full-time gainful employment, excluding service in the armed forces; provided further, that any additional premium which may be required for the coverage of such student shall be paid in full by the employee. The standards for such full-time instruction and the time required to complete such a program of education shall be determined by the appropriate public authority.

 

Only three municipalities in the state currently offer domestic partnerships in relationships that involve more than two people:  Cambridge, Somerville, and Arlington.

Polyamory is not the same as polygamy.

Unlike a polygamous relationship, which typically involves a man having multiple wives, including situations where one or more of the supposed wives is unaware of the other women, a polyamorous relationship typically does not involve marriage and has the consent of everyone involved. Polyamorous relationships can include heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual relationships.

Decker could not be reached for comment on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

 

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