Employer-sponsored healthcare benefits for domestic partners

In March 2013, among all civilian workers, 72 percent had access to employer-sponsored healthcare benefits, and virtually all of those workers could extend those benefits to their spouses; this compares with 32 percent of workers who had access to healthcare benefits that could be extended to unmarried same-sex partners, and 26 percent who had access that could be extended to unmarried opposite-sex partners.

The availability of health benefits that can be extended to an employee’s domestic partner varied by certain worker characteristics. For example, nearly 40 percent of full-time workers had access to health benefits for same-sex domestic partners, compared with 12 percent of part-time workers. Among the major occupation groups, 44 percent of workers in management, professional, and related occupations had access to health benefits for same-sex domestic partners, compared with 32 percent for sales and office occupations and 20 percent for service occupations.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey – Benefits program. To learn more, see "Employer-sponsored benefits extended to domestic partners," by Elizabeth Ashack, Beyond the Numbers, March 2014. Employees are considered to have access to a benefit plan if it is available for their use, regardless of whether they choose to enroll.