Blago Expects 1/2 of 1% to Sign Up for Domestic Partnership Benefits

I have suggested on McHenry County Blog that domestic partnership benefits have been accepted so widely by corporations because they cost so relatively little. Why? My guess is that few people sign up.

If so, the granting of such benefits is basically a political, not a financial statement.

That is certainly the case with Governor Rod Blagojevich's signing of the 2004 AFCSME contract and his recent granting of same-sex benefits to non-union employees as well.

The administration thinks it will cost $2.2 million to provide benefits to ½ of 1% of the 72,000 or so state employees will sign up for benefits. That's 3,600 people.

I doubt it. I think it will cost a lot less.

Maybe a lot less when state employees figure out they will have to pay taxes on the benefits that their partner receives.

Besides a birth certificate or a driver's license, prospective domestic partnership beneficiaries must provide either a Cook County Domestic Partnership Certificate or two of the other items to establish eligiblity.

To test my hypothesis that the state may be overestimating participation, I asked the University of Illinois for statistics on its domestic benefits program

Here’s what I found.

This year there are 48 who signed up their partners. Here’s the campus breakdown:

Chicago - 31, estimated annual cost - $41,000
Urbana - 14, estimated annual cost - $1,200
Springfield - 3, estimated annual cost - $18,000

The program reimburses the employee for insurance premiums on a quarterly basis, so benefits are not automatic after sign-up, as they will be with the state program. Some effort is required on the part of the employee, so there are undoubtedly lost benefits. I have multiplied the average quarterly cost so far this year by four to obtain the figures above. Using this methodology, the total for the year would be $60,800.

Unlike the state program, however, the U of I does not require a year's living together. Six months and you qualify if you are this university's employee.

Even with the more liberal entrance standards, only 48 of 22,660 full-time equivalent employees signed up. Maybe it's just too much hassle to file the reimbursement forms. For the U of I to reach 1/2 of 1%, 1133 would have had to have asked for domestic partner benefits.