Salt Lake County
Council member Jenny Wilson has introduced a health
insurance plan that would expand coverage to, among
others, the partners of gay and lesbian
county employees. Wilson told the Salt Lake City
Tribune that she is modeling her plan after the
city's current policy, which was passed two years ago.
Her
proposed policy is not limited to gay and lesbian
couples, who have no marriage or civil union rights in
Utah. Under her plan, any "adult designee" who lives
with a county employee and is financially
interdependent would be eligible for benefits.
Including other qualified beneficiaries may sway the
majority Republican council, according to the report.
Seventy-eight percent of the Salt Lake City program's
adult beneficiaries are not gay or lesbian partners.
"This is a
reasonable and fair way to get more people covered,"
Wilson told the Tribune.
Wilson is one of
four Democrats on the nine-member council. (The
Advocate)
