Would You Marry or Divorce Just for Insurance?
Is health insurance a factor in marriage or divorce? Yes, according to a recent poll by The Kaiser Foundation, a health research group, which questioned Americans as part of a survey on how favorably they viewed presidential candidates based on their views on health insurance.
The survey results weren’t a surprise to Divorce360 expert and New York Attorney Daniel Clements, who wrote in a recent blog: “…Medical insurance has become a major consideration in the decision to divorce or to wed.”
“Money has long been a motive for getting married (Jackie Onassis) and staying married (when Michael Jordan found out a divorce would cost him 400 million, he decided to stay),” said David Knox, a sociology professor at East Carolina University, author (with Kermit Leggett) of “The Divorced Dad’s Survival Book” and the founder of www.heartchoice.com. “Folks also stay married for health benefits….if a gal divorces her husband, she loses his health benefits.”
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation survey conducted in the spring of 2008, about 7 percent of the adults surveyed admitted that someone in their home had married to get health insurance.
The issue isn’t just about getting married to get health insurance. It’s also about putting marriage off because of it, according to Noah Rosenfarb, a New Jersey accountant and financial planner who operates a web site targeting divorcing women called www.DECNJ.org. “With companies/states that provide for domestic partners, I’ve seen couples defer the thought of marriage because their health coverage needs can be met once they live together,” he said.
And seniors who have been married for years are considering divorce to keep from spending down their assets, some experts have said. “For seniors, a financial planning strategy to help one party qualify for Medicaid/long-term care can include a divorce. This protects at least some assets from being utilized to fund health care expenses,” Rosenfarb said.
Massachusetts attorney Hyman G. Darling is familiar with a half-dozen cases in the last two years, calling it the last resort when one of the partners needs nursing home care. “It makes particular sense if it’s a second marriage, and there’s a pre-nuptial agreement,” he states. “Each partner may want their assets to go to children by an earlier marriage.”
The issue of divorce’s affect on health care has been discussed by members of the Wevorce.com community. In June 2008, CGrace, 56, admitted, “I have been dragging my feet on a divorce because my husband has outstanding health insurance, and because I now have what would be considered pre-existing conditions by an insurance company, that would make it difficult if not impossible to get health coverage.”
She asked: “Is it possible to get a divorce and still be kept on your spouse’s existing plan (not COBRA)? If not, can you fight a spouse, and not divorce, so you can stay on the plan. We’ve been legally separated for two years. It’s unfortunate that the state of our health care makes us really have to consider these matters.”
Trisha9054 responded: “I figured the COBRA health insurances costs into my property settlement. I will have a gap of about 10 months with no health insurance before I turn 65. Like you, there are some things on my record that make me have difficulty getting insurance on the open market. I don’t have the thing they were testing for but it still sits on my health record. You can call your husband’s human resources department and tell them you are considering a divorce and want to know how much COBRA insurance will cost. Be aware you only get COBRA for three years.”
CGrace’s concerns about health insurance are more common than you’d think. According to Clement, “…Many couples, after negotiating their settlement agreements, delay seeking an immediate divorce and, instead, opt to divorce on the basis of their living separate and apart for a year pursuant to a written separation agreement,” he said. “The one-year separation allows a party who would otherwise be without access to medical insurance to remain eligible for medical coverage on the basis of the marriage. Some couples put off the divorce for even more than a year for this very reason.”
The trend is more pronounced in New York, he wrote, because the state required a divorcing spouse to acknowledge that they are aware that they will no longer be allowed to receive health coverage under their former spouse’s health insurance plan once the divorce is granted. “Following the divorce the parties may be eligible to continue medical coverage under COBRA (which can be prohibitively expensive) or purchase insurance on their own,” he wrote.
The issue isn’t just about how health care affects marriage and divorce, Knox said.”I know a military widow who won’t remarry cause she enjoys her dead husband’s military benefits which include health insurance for her kids.”
