Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: Analysis – Workers Increasingly Have Access to Same-Sex Spousal Benefits

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation issued the following news release:

While workplace health benefits for married same-sex spouses are becoming more common, new data from KFF's 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey shows they still lag behind benefits available to opposite sex-spouses.

In 2018, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of employers offering health insurance coverage to opposite-sex spouses also provided coverage to same-sex spouses - up significantly from 2016, when fewer than half (43 percent) did. Few (6 percent) say they do not offer same-sex spousal benefits, while others, mostly small employers, say they have not encountered such a situation.

Larger employers are more likely than smaller ones to offer same-sex spousal benefits. As a result, a large majority (88 percent) of covered workers are at firms that provide such benefits. Relatively few (6 percent) are at firms that do not offer same-sex spousal benefits.

The analysis examines trends in same-sex spousal benefits following the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.