Blue Cross Same-Sex Spousal Benefits Class Action Lawsuit

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and Catholic hospital St. Joseph’s Medical Center for unfairly denying health benefits to spouses of legally married same-sex couples.

The class action lawsuit is spearheaded by two married women – known only as “Jane Doe” and “Jane Roe.” Roe is employed by a division of St. Josephs. Doe is her spouse.

“Despite the fact that New York State recognizes same-sex marriage, St. Joseph’s and BCBS [Blue Cross Blue Shield] maintained a provision of the plan excluding same-sex spouses from eligible dependents of plan participants,” the Plaintiffs claim in the class action lawsuit.

Roe claims that after passage of New York’s Marriage Equality Act in late 2011, she applied for spousal benefits at the hospital where she worked but was told “that her spouse would be denied coverage because the plan expressly excluded ‘same-sex’ couples as eligible dependents of the plan’s participants.”

The women claim that “the Defendants, at all relevant dates, have condoned and maintained that provision despite its clearly discriminatory purpose and effect.” Creating and maintaining a discriminatory provision that interferes with and denies the attainment of rights violates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), they say.

The class action lawsuit cites several recent court rulings, including “a recent First Circuit opinion [in which] the Court of Appeals found that Section 1 of DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act], which defines marriage narrowly as between two individuals of the opposite sex, was unconstitutional on the basis that the extreme economic burden placed on gay citizens seeking medical benefits, tax benefits and spousal death benefits outweighed the Congressional purposes of DOMA which violated the Equal Protection Clause….”
    
“Similarly, on June 6, 2012, DOMA was found unconstitutional by Judge Barbara Jones of the Southern District of New York, who, like the First Circuit, determined that the governmental goals set forth by DOMA were illegitimate.”

The Plaintiffs are seeking declaratory judgment that they are entitled to benefits under ERISA, and want Blue Cross and St. Joseph’s enjoined from withholding benefits. They are also seeking certification of a proposed class of all persons who are participants in or beneficiaries of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance plans in the State of New York who were or might be denied medical-benefits coverage as a result of an employer’s policy that excludes coverage for same-sex spouses.

A copy of the Blue Cross Same-Sex Spousal Benefits Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.  

The case is Jane Roe and Jane Doe v. Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and St. Joseph’s Medical Center, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.