April 30, 2008
Yesterday the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that at least 7% of registered voters say they decided to get married in order to access health care benefits.  The Alternatives to Marriage Project (AtMP) calls on employers, insurers, and presidential candidates to recognize unmarried people's health care responsibilities and ensure that the cost of health care is not determined by marital status.

Marriage is the on / off switch for access to health care in America.  AtMP has gathered anecdotes and statistics to prove this point, and the Kaiser poll provides further evidence.  Real people who have shared their stories with AtMP include:

• Couples who married to get health insurance and are upset that they were forced to rush into things or compromise their values. 
• Couples who want to marry but can't because marrying would cause them to lose their disability insurance or military survivors' insurance. 
• Individuals who work for companies that won't extend benefits to their unmarried partners. 
• Different-sex couples boycotting marriage in solidarity with LGBT friends, who find that their employers extend domestic partner benefits only to same-sex couples.
• Individuals who were fired or penalized for taking time off from work to care for unmarried partners.
• Singles who can't include their disabled siblings and not-elderly-enough-for-Medicare parents on their employment-based health policies. 
• Singles who feel they receive un-equal pay for equal work because their married co-workers' total compensation includes pricey family-benefits.
• Unhappily married couples who postpone divorce so that both spouses can keep employment-based health benefits.