| Health Benefits Expansion Act of 1992
The Health Benefits Expansion Act of 1992 (DC Law 9-114, effective June 11, 1992) was recently approved by Congress. This law authorizes unmarried persons regardless of gender to register as domestic partners. Registration enables the partners to receive health insurance coverage if the District employee currently has coverage. The law also provides the partners mutual visitation rights in hospitals and nursing homes and provides for the use of accrued annual/sick leave when needed to care for a domestic partner and dependents. This law is applicable to employees hired on or after October 1, 1987. Employees hired prior to October 1, 1987 and covered under the Civil Service Retirement Program are excluded.
Employees must register as domestic partners in order to take advantage of the benefits that the law provides. Both persons seeking to register as domestic partners must appear in person, provide documentation to establish that they satisfy the requirements for registration (i.e., joint residential leases, mortgages, deeds, or joint utility bills), submit a single application, and pay the appropriate fee.
Applicants must apply at the DC Department of Health, State Center for Health Statistics, 825 North Capitol Street, NE, Washington DC 20002. Under DC Official Code, Section 32-702 (c), all information contained in a declaration for domestic partnership, with the exception of address information, is open to public inspection.
District employees that register as domestic partners may also be eligible to enroll their partner in their health insurance program. Enrollment packets are available in the DC Office of Personnel, Employee Service Center, 441 4th Street NW, Suite 345 South.
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