The recent wave of state legislation allowing same-sex domestic partnerships with the same rights as marriages may have an unexpected effect upon Social Security. No, Social Security will not recognize these civil unions as marriages, but read this excerpt from an Associated Press article about civil unions in Washington state.
Unmarried, heterosexual senior couples would also be eligible for domestic partnerships if one partner were at least 62. Lawmakers said that provision was included to help seniors who are at risk of losing pension rights and Social Security benefits if they remarry.
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Unintended, perhaps, but how sad that our government has chosen to use its resources to be America's moral arbitor. Leave religion and its myriad contradicting and self-righteous tenents out of the State Houses, out of the Congress, out of the White House and most importantly, out of our Constitution - how about using all that energy (and money) to help solve the hideous, inhuman, devastating problems infesting the SS system as it pertains to SSDI/SSI and Medicare.
People are dying while battling to get access to an insurance policy which they were forced to pay for (no one gets to choose whether or not to have SS or Medicare taken out of their checks). People are dying while they are waiting two years to get Medicare after they've been approved for SSDI.
Disability doesn't ask someone if they are gay or straight. It doesn't give way for a particular religion or age. It destroys and devestates without care or interest in what is happening in an individual's bedroom - which, when someone is trying to gain access to the Disability Benefits they've already paid for, is usually crying and sleeplessness and fear and desperate prayers to whatever diety they believe in.
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