MASS. CATHOLIC HOSPITAL WILL NO LONGER OFFER BENEFITS TO SAME-SEX COUPLES: From the Herald News

Gay and lesbian employees at St. Anne's Hospital who provide health care benefits for their spouses will no longer be able to provide those services to their loved ones. Beginning Oct. 1, St. Anne's is changing all of its health plans to self-funded plans. The move allows the hospital's managing group, Caritas Christi Health Care, to stop extending insurance benefits to same-sex spouses of employees.

Under a self-funded plan, the employer pays funds for the plan based on its actual claims experience and hires a plan administrator to process the claims. A letter to employees dated Sept. 3 explained the change. "Since same-sex marriage is in conflict with church teachings, all Caritas Christi Hospitals are changing to self-funded plans."

St. Anne's Hospital is part of Caritas Christi's Catholic Health Care System, which is associated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The group operates six hospitals throughout eastern Massachusetts. ...

Michele Granda, staff attorney for the activist group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, said that the Caritas group should still provide same-sex spouses of employees with benefits regardless of Catholic teachings.

"They can make the teachings known without penalizing employees' spouses," Granda said. "They get paid the same and they earn the same benefits through the week--it should be good for all spouses."

Granda said that this is the first instance she has heard of employers making changes to health plans to deny same-sex couples shared benefits.

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posted by Eve at 5:27 PM VOTE

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