Posted on 01/23/2006 7:40:24 AM PST by Millee
niversity of Florida employees have to pledge that they're having sex with their domestic partners before qualifying for benefits under a new health care plan at the university.
The partners of homosexual and heterosexual employees are eligible for coverage under UF's plan, which will take effect in February. The enrollment process began this month, and some employees have expressed concern about an affidavit that requires a pledge of sexual activity.
Fielding questions about the pledge at a Faculty Senate meeting Thursday, UF's vice president of human resources said he's heard concerns about the affidavit, though overall feedback about the plan has been positive.
"I would say 95 percent of the affidavit is fine," Kyle Cavanaugh said in an interview after the meeting.
In addition to declaring joint financial obligations, prospective enrollees must "have been in a non-platonic relationship for the preceding 12 months," according to the affidavit.
Marylou Behnke, a UF senator, told Cavanaugh she found the requirement "offensive."
As a member of the Senate, representing faculty in UF's College of Medicine, Behnke said she was compelled to learn more about UF's plan. She said she was taken aback to find that employees would be required to swear to prior sexual activity, a standard not applied to married couples covered by UF's primary health care plan.
"Are you going to police it?" Behnke asked Cavanaugh.
Cavanaugh said he had no plans to personally enforce the sex pledge. The "non-platonic" clause is "increasingly standard" in domestic partnership plans, Cavanaugh said. The clause is one of several methods used to legally ensure that an employer is only obligated to cover employees in a committed relationship, not longtime roommates.
Shands HealthCare, which began offering domestic partnership benefits this month, also requires that employees declare a "non-platonic" relationship. Shands is an affiliate of UF, supporting the university's education and research efforts, but it is a private nonprofit entity with an independent health care plan. Like UF, Shands chose to offer domestic partnership benefits in order to stay competitive, said Kim Rose, Shands spokeswoman. Rose said she did not know whether Shands' Board of Directors, which approved the plan, was influenced by UF's decision to offer domestic benefits.
Concerns about the "non-platonic" clause may lead UF to change the language of the affidavit, Cavanaugh said.
"I would anticipate we would take a hard look at trying to modify it," he said.
Any modifications to the plan won't likely be made in the first enrollment cycle, which ends Jan. 30, Cavanaugh said. But by October, when employees enroll for benefits again, there may be changes to the affidavit, he said.
Between five and 10 people have enrolled in the plan already, Cavanaugh said, and more than 100 have attended orientations to learn about the benefits. UF officials anticipate that as many as 120 people will enroll in the plan, which will cost the university about $1 million a year.
Confidentiality is promised to UF employees enrolled in any health care plan, but Behnke said she had concerns about whether the affidavit might lead to discrimination if it ended up in the wrong hands. Pledging an active homosexual relationship, as the affidavit requires for gay couples, could potentially bar an individual from participation in organizations like the Boy Scouts or the military, Behnke said.
Kim Tanzer, chair of the Faculty Senate, said she could understand why some faculty might view the affidavit as invasive.
"I can see (Behnke's) point," she said. "If you ask married folks if they're in a platonic relationship, that's a personal question."
They might slam you home.
For rent: Room in 2 bedroom apartment with shared kitchen.
Walking distance to university transit, heat, HW, no copay Medical and Dental included.
Gender not an issue, no pets, smokers or republicans.
no, do you think? I can't stand getting in trouble.
You have oral sex with your sheep? EWE!
TY This really is aggravating. No one has ever offered me special status but seems like half the country is willing to give the sodomists anything they want.
Yeah, many of us reason exactly as you do.
I also note that they are even taking precautions to avoid having the homosexuals declare that they are (so, are they going to use hand signals and puppets or what to declare themselves as homosexuals?), such that they don't want the homosexuals to have to admit they're homosexuals to anyone else to avoid being named as homosexuals...
It's as if there's now an entire alternate universe of double meanings and secret codes. I wouldn't be surprised if they started issueing Homosexual Hand Shakes or something just to "keep it quiet" outside Human Resources and homosexual employees.
But just TRY getting medical leave for a pregnancy, a husband with a broken leg, a child with a fever...
Another symptom of societal illness.
Sometimes even married couples abstain from sexual relations for one reason or another.
What will they need next - a video?
I'm actually a bit more self centered about this, given that I paid for all my college myself by very hard work and a whole lot of deprivation while in full-time college. The whole ordeal...
Self centered in the sense that it cost me nearly my vital essence so many times just to finish and pay all the bills and then I read about yet another MILLION DOLLAR PLUS price tag for a mere 100 or something (article wrote, I now can't recall exact number but I remember it was slight, not like hundreds of thousands of individuals). At student expense because the University isn't just going to pony up the million+ out of faculty donations or reduced prices for gum and candy.
I'm perfectly serious. Black and white people do have sex. Sometimes even together! :^)
well, I know that, silly!
but that's not what I meant by the my comment.
:~)
Why aren't longtime roomates regarded as committed? Sounds sexist to me.
I missed it then. I guess I'm just slow today (But I've heard women like that sometimes)
. . . or anywhere else for that matter.
It's ok, John O. My point was that sex between partners/spouses isn't black and white. There are all sorts of problems with this issue, i.e. what if one partner is a quadraplegic? What happens then?
University of Florida isn't thinking.
And I went to Florida State, their rival.
very funny.
double entendre
OH I got that (And I agree). I guess I was just looking too hard for a humerous undertone.
is ok by me. :~)
Huh? How does this work?
Maybe in some instances. In this case, and many others, I get the impression that they had to include hetrosexuals in order to avoid discrimination lawsuits when they included homosexual "partners".
So instead they are getting this "invasion of privacy" thing, as if just applying for the "cohabitation" health insurance wasn't pretty much changing "private" to "not so private" in the first place.
Marriage goes with the presumption of sexual relations.
Seriously, the honeymoon is a "sex vacation" in essence.
You are probably right about this situation including sexually active unmarried normal people.
The interesting question is whether the soon to be passed FL marriage amendment will end this after it passes in NOV.
That will simply end the gravy train for everyone cohabiting for sex. It will just put marriage for insurance back to opposite sex couples.
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