Would you marry for health insurance?
August 13, 2008 4:03 pm Divorce and Finance, World Divorce Stories
In some states of America it seems that people are getting married not for love but for the love of a good insurance policy.
In an article in the New York Times it talks of several couples who have done just that, the female of the couple received a kidney transplant last year, and she needed to marry her partner to receive insurance money from his Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO policy.
The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a survey and found that 7 percent of everyone asked had said they knew of someone in their family who had married to gain access to insurance within the last year. The Foundation doesn’t want us to take this number literally but as a guide to how many Americans are making such huge life decisions because they are worried about the cost of health cover.
The article went on to say that an officiant at a wedding chapel, was not shocked that 1 out of 10 couples stood before him and cite health insurance as the reason they stand before him.
Well they do say “in sickness and in health” and “marry for better or worse, for richer or for poorer” but are couples having to recite these words for love of a health insurance policy? We have been discussing this in the diva office, let us know what you think, or indeed if you have rushed to the alter for health cover, or if you have any stories regarding losing health cover when you divorced?
Source: New York Times
