Source
r/Maine•
FinchHop

Domestic Partnership to get health insurance

Hi! I am looking for people's experiences who've used Maine's domestic partnership law (https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/24-a/title24-asec2741-a.html) to get their partner their work's health insurance/get on their partner's health insurance.

I'm looking into doing this with my partner. We're not married yet, but we are cohabitating on a shared lease.

Did you have to sign up for the official Domestic Partnership Registry? Reading the statute makes it seem like a shared lease would be enough. We're outside open enrollment now for my work, but my partner is turning 26 next year, would we be able to sign up for health insurance using that statute outside of the open enrollment period, would we have to wait until she turned 26, or would we just have to wait until the next open enrollment period?

Posted Dec 21, 2023, 2:39 AM UTC

44
Moot_n_abootSomewhere on route 2•

But thing to remember is that if it’s a domestic partnership it becomes taxable. That’s why my husband and I got married during open enrollment many years ago lol

11
lurkeemclurker•

These are questions for your employer. If they are large enough they most likely use a 3rd party vendor for eligibility requirements and you would need to ask them what kind of documents they need for verification (i.e. shared bills, beneficiary listed on life policy, shared mortgage/lease, etc).

5
ejoburke90Portland•

Seconding. I work for the state and you can add a partner onto your insurway on provided you’ve cohabitated for a year - you don’t need to be official domestic partners

1
turquoisefr0g•

The other thing to remember is that the law is that the insurer is mandated to cover domestic partners, not that the employer is mandated to provide it. This rule is specifically binding on the insurance company. Some employers decide to only offer benefits to married spouses. Be sure to ask your HR department whether or not domestic partner coverage is offered. Hope this helps!

1
JoyKil01•

Check with your employer/insurance provider first. Some will only allow marriage certificates, while some will let you do a few simple things on their list to claim DP (no need for a state cert). Others just “take your word for it”. We’ve had all 3 scenarios—so definitely ask first!

1