State of Alaska employees and retirees with same-sex partners would have to marry by the end of the year for those partners and their children to keep their state health coverage under a rules change proposed Wednesday by the state Department of Administration.
The department on Wednesday issued a public notice about the proposal and a public comment period, which comes after a U.S. District Court judge last year invalidated Alaska's same-sex marriage ban and a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in late June that guaranteed same-sex marriage rights. At last count, the state covered 44 same-sex partners of active employees and 70 same-sex partners of retirees, department spokesman Andy Mills, said in an email.
A union health care plan that covers 8,000 state employees and a total of 17,000 people, including spouses and children, made a similar change in early June, with the plan's board chair saying the goal was to treat all couples equally. State officials said at the time they wanted to wait to make any changes until after the Supreme Court ruling.
Following the decision, the state is proposing the change to "ensure that all members in the state's AlaskaCare plan are on equal footing regarding qualification requirements in order to receive state employee benefits," Mills said. When same-sex marriage wasn't an option in Alaska, the state allowed such couples to claim benefits as domestic partners.
The state-run health care plan covers about 6,500 employees and 40,400 retirees, not including dependents.