Domestic Partner Health Insurance in California

Have you recently become a part of a domestic partnership? If you’re considering doing such a thing, you should know that there are special provisions for domestic partner health insurance in California — and we’ll tell you all about it!

Qualifying Events

If you want to enroll or change your healthcare plan, generally you’re only allowed to do so during the special open enrollment period. And that’s usually the first month of each year. The only other time when you’re allowed to do this (barring unusual circumstances like the pandemic) is when you experience a qualifying event.

In other words, you can change your healthcare plan if you experience one of these prescribed events, even if there’s no current open enrollment period. And luckily for you, entering into a domestic partnership is actually one of those events!

Considering this, if your partner or yourself don’t have active health coverage — or just want to change your coverage plan — this is the right time to do so! And with Affordable Care California, you will be able to do this more easily than ever.

Expanded eligibility

As you’ll soon see, the circumstances for finding new healthcare coverage in California have never been better! Since July 2019, the state of California enacted a law that relaxes the qualifications for defining domestic partnerships. Previously, domestic partners had to be:

• Older than 62
• Of the opposite sex
• Or of the same sex

Now, however, domestic partnerships can be registered more freely. And the regulations in the state of California already require that healthcare providers give spouses and domestic partners an identical treatment.

This also means that some types of employers will have to include domestic partners of their employees in California to the same healthcare coverage plan! As an employee, you might need to make a specific request to your California employer for such an addition to your healthcare plan. Still, the employer is bound to comply by law!

Most employers are likely to update their policies on domestic partner enrollment if they have not done so already. This also means that your employer might require you to provide proof of the existence of your domestic partnership.

Other changes in domestic partnerships in California

According to the latest changes in California law, you need to be in compliance with the following requirements in order to register a domestic partnership:

1. You or your potential partner must not be married to another person, or be in another domestic partnership
2. You and your potential partner cannot be blood relatives in a way that makes marriage prohibited in the state of California
3. You and your partner must be 18 or older
4. You and your partner must both consent and be capable of consenting to this kind of partnership

As for the health insurance coverage, the newly expanded eligibility for domestic partnerships greatly increases the opportunities for getting health insurance from employers based on a domestic partnership. Seeing as California law provides the same treatment to domestic partners as it does spouses, you and your partner have wide options when it comes to coverage sponsored by employers.

You should bear in mind that California law has no such requirements for unregistered domestic partners; only registered ones get spouse-level treatment when it comes to sponsored health coverage.

There are some carriers that are willing to provide the same level of treatment for both spouses and domestic partners that aren’t registered. In this case, it also depends on the policies on medical plans that specific employers maintain — though none are legally required to provide benefits to unregistered domestic partners.

Find medical coverage to avoid tax penalties

As you can see, becoming a part of a registered domestic partnership is an amazing opportunity to find or change your healthcare plan. If there’s no open enrollment period currently active, and you don’t have coverage — make sure to use this chance. Plus, if you’re not finding it easy to pick the right plan: Affordable Care California is more than happy to help!

In case you’re not aware of this already, you should know that not having healthcare coverage is illegal in the state of California since the beginning of 2020. Not complying with this regulation will result in tax penalties in 2021; on top of the already mounting risks of living without healthcare.

That’s why entering a domestic partnership is the perfect opportunity to utilize the assistance of Affordable Care California! Regardless of whether you’ve already registered your partnership or not, or what kind of employer you have; we will lead you towards the simplest possible way to choose a fitting healthcare provider.

Our website allows you to effortlessly receive plenty of different quotes from reputable health insurance carriers working in California. You can use these quotes to compare all of the offers and select the one which fits your personal finances and healthcare needs the most.

There’s no reason to be anxious or stressed out when it comes to choosing your healthcare coverage. With us by your side, you will get the best possible plan that you can afford, from the most renowned carriers in the Golden State!