tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35507548864079012372011-04-21T16:00:02.386-07:00The University of Texas currently does not provide benefits for the partners and families of its LGBTQ employees. This blog is a place for people impacted by this policy to share their stories.PEFSAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02954980698932600750noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550754886407901237.post-53981795444360950922008-10-31T06:31:00.001-07:002008-10-31T06:38:58.295-07:00I can't provide health benefits to my self-employed partner of 19 years. The only time the university has recognized us as a family was when they included her income in calculating our child care costs. I get paid less than my legally married co-workers because every month our family spends hundreds of dollars on her limited health insurance that might have otherwise gone into our sons' college funds. I keep track of the other universities and businesses that support all their faculty and staff and I assure you that our students, alumni, donors, potential and current faculty and staff do, too. This will be increasingly true in years to come. <br /><br />Professor Tanya Voss<br />Field Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor<br />School of Social Work<br />The University of Texas at Austin<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3550754886407901237-5398179544436095092?l=dpbforut.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>PEFSAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02954980698932600750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3550754886407901237.post-53280710295197382542008-10-31T06:15:00.001-07:002008-10-31T06:15:30.041-07:00Domestic partner benefits have been on my mind with particular intensity during the past year. When I received a generous offer from Case Western Reserve that included a substantial salary increase and full domestic partner benefits for Michael Larvey, my partner of 29 years, I was sorely tempted to leave UT. But it was Michael who insisted that I shouldn't disrupt my academic life for his sake. As a self-employed designer, he was paying about $400 per month for health insurance that offered no physician, no prescription plan, and an 80-20 payout after meeting a $5,000 deductible. In fact, when the insurance company raised the premium in October of last year, he decided to go to a 50-50 plan to save $100 per month. In December he fell very ill with atrial fibrillation. He went into congestive heart failure and into the hospital twice: first for a procedure called cardioversion (shocking the atria to try to return the heart to a regular heartbeat) then radio-wave ablation (burning the misfiring sections of heart with radio waves). The second operation (the procedure alone costing $70,000) helped enormously and put him on the mend, but we faced huge medical bills. <br />Two lessons to this bitter tale: 1) If Michael had been paying for UT-Select, he would have had a primary care physician who could have detected the problem before it got so grave; 2) the salary increase I got in my counteroffer from UT didn't help much when it came to Michael's medical bills; they devastated our finances. I agree with you that UT's refusal to provide domestic partner benefits is grossly unfair. I also realize that UT is at a distinct disadvantage in recruiting and retaining faculty.<br />Thanks for speaking up on this issue.<br /><br />John R. Clarke<br />Annie Laurie Howard Regents Professor<br />Department of Art & Art History<br />The University of Texas at Austin<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3550754886407901237-5328071029519738254?l=dpbforut.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>PEFSAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02954980698932600750noreply@blogger.com0