USA: Getting married for health insurance

[Guest guest]

Getting married for health insurance

Seven percent of Americans say they or someone in their household

decided to tie the knot in the last year so they could receive

healthcare benefits, a poll finds.

By Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

April 29, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Some people marry for love, some for companionship, and

others for status or money. Now comes another reason to get hitched:

health insurance.

In a poll released today, 7% of Americans said they or someone in

their household decided to marry in the last year so they could get

healthcare benefits via their spouse.

" It's a small number but a powerful result, because it shows how

paying for healthcare is reflected not only in family budgets but in

life decisions, " said Drew E. Altman, president of the Kaiser Family

Foundation, which commissioned the survey as part of its regular

polling on healthcare.

On a broader scale, the survey found that healthcare costs outranked

housing costs, rising food prices and credit card bills as a source of

concern. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said they had

experienced serious problems because of the cost of healthcare,

compared with 29% who had problems getting a good job or a raise.

Gasoline prices were the top economic worry, with 44% saying they had

serious problems keeping up with increases at the pump.

A companion poll also detected an important shift among voters:

Independents in particular say they are more concerned about reducing

medical costs than about increasing the number of Americans with

health insurance.

A Kaiser poll from February found that 37% of independents wanted the

presidential candidates to address costs first, while 32% cited the

problem of getting coverage for the 47 million uninsured.

But in the latest poll, 46% of independents said the candidates should

deal with costs, and 25% said expanding coverage should come first.

" The general election is going to be a contest for independent

voters, " Altman said. " To appeal to independent voters, the candidates

are increasingly going to have to frame healthcare as an economic issue. "

Among the three presidential candidates, Republican Sen. McCain

of Arizona has emphasized reducing costs ahead of expanding coverage.

Of the two Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has

stressed coverage for all as the main goal, and Sen. Barack Obama of

Illinois has talked about gradually expanding coverage while trying to

better control costs.

Healthcare inflation has been rising at about twice the rate of

economic growth, and it's unclear how much of a difference better

prevention, computerized medical records and other ideas for

containing costs might prove to be.

But with employer-based health insurance averaging $12,000 for family

coverage and $4,500 for individuals, the public concern with costs is

understandable. Nearly a fourth of Americans said they had decided to

keep or change jobs in the last year because of health insurance.

What surprised researchers was that such costs had become a factor in

marriage decisions. " We should have asked about divorce, " said Altman,

joking.

Those who cited health insurance as a factor in deciding to marry

tended to have modest incomes. About 6 in 10 were in households making

less than $50,000 a year, said Mollyann Brodie, who directs Kaiser's

opinion research. They also were younger, with 4 in 10 between 18 and 34.

" We don't know a lot more about them, " Brodie said. " Just that they

answered that of all the reasons for getting married, [health

insurance] was also a reason, was surprising. "

Most employers do not offer health insurance to unmarried domestic

partners of employees.

The Kaiser polling, conducted April 3-13, surveyed a nationally

representative sample of 2,003 adults, and has a margin of error of

plus or minus 3 percentage points

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-na-health29apr29,1,2994042.story?track=rs\

s