19 Sign Up for El Paso Domestic Partner Benefits

The cost of the city government's domestic partner insurance program turned out to be much less than projected, but critics say they are not mollified. Just 19 city employees signed up so their unmarried heterosexual or gay partners can receive taxpayer-funded health insurance benefits.

The cost will be $42,000 this year, said Irene Morales, a city employee who oversees insurance programs. The city had forecast that 45 employees would be eligible and that the benefit program would cost taxpayers between $128,000 and $287,000. The overall city budget is $673.9 million, of which about $35 million each year is spent on health benefits for municipal employees and their families.

But to opponents of domestic partners benefits, the issue was never just about money. Tom Brown, pastor of Word of Life Church, said a group he has helped to organize will continue trying to overturn the new benefits.

Full Story from Insurance News Net
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