Studer Community Institute

Marriage Inequality: If she were straight, she'd have better insurance

December 22, 2014
/ Louis Cooper
/ community-dashboard

At just 31 years old, Pensacola resident Sarah Humlie was shocked when she was recently diagnosed with uterine cancer. She's had two operations in the last month and expects to begin chemotherapy in January. On top of medical concerns, Sarah’s family is worried about high deductibles from her private insurance, even though her spouse is a state employee with access to affordable health insurance with minimal out-of-pocket expenses. That's because Sarah isn't married to a male state employee -- she's married to a woman. "Sarah doesn't get insurance through her job, so she is exactly the candidate (to be on a spouse's insurance)," said Lindsay Myers, Sarah's wife of two years. The couple was legally married in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, 2012, but Florida does not yet recognize same-sex marriage. “I've worked for the state for a year and six months. She would have been on my insurance from day one.'" Lindsay is the digital content producer for WUWF, the public radio station at the University of West Florida. Sarah is the executive director of the Pensacola Humane Society. "A year ago, we were both healthy and young, and her premiums were so high compared to mine," Lindsay said. "As a state employee, I could have 10 kids, and we would all be under one flat rate that would be less than half of what Sarah pays for private insurance. We're talking about a significant difference in the amount of money (we would spend) month to month." The couple's friends and the community have stepped up with several fundraisers to help cover out-of-pocket expenses. "One of our friends started a GoFundMe (drive), and people have already donated over $8.000. We have felt so, so humbled," Lindsay said. "It's very overwhelming to see friends, neighbors and colleagues step up and say, 'We want to help you because we don't think it's right that you should have to deal with this.'” While there's no way Lindsay and Sarah could have foreseen how dramatically the need for good insurance would be illustrated in their lives, getting Sarah on Lindsay's insurance was one of the reason's the couple joined a federal lawsuit brought by the ACLU seeking to overturn the state's gay marriage ban. A federal judge ruled in favor of Lindsay and Sarah, and the other couples who were a party to the case. That decision was stayed -- or put on hold -- through Jan. 5, 2015. State Attorney General Pam Bondi asked the U.S. Supreme Court to extend the stay, but Friday the court turned her down. Even if the stay is allowed to expire, there is some debate about whether the judge's ruling applies to all counties in Florida or just Washington County, which is named in the suit. "Sarah's illness definitely brought my sense of injustice several notches higher," Lindsay said. "This is exactly the situation we ought to be protected from, and we're not. I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of couples like us." If same-sex marriage is ultimately legalized in Florida in January, Lindsay expects coverage for Sarah to begin on Feb. 1. The two women met in 2010, and it was almost on a whim that they decided to get legally married in Washington, D.C., in 2012. They were going to D.C. to visit friends and decided to tie the knot. They didn't realize there was both a waiting period to get the marriage license and a backlog to see the justice of the peace. Their first trip was in October and they had to return in December for the ceremony. "It wasn't that I didn't want to get married," said Lindsay. "But I was sort of like, 'So it's a piece of paper. It doesn't really mean anything.'" But Sarah said she wanted to take the leap even though she knew the union would not be recognized in Florida. "Even through it's not recognized in this state, I think it will eventually come," Sarah said. "By leaving and going elsewhere to have that recognition, it makes the statement that it is important." WANT TO HELP? To help with Sarah Humlie's medical expenses, go to http://www.gofundme.com/ip3460.

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Marriage Inequality: If she were straight, she'd have better insurance

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