Marrying for Health Care: People are getting married to have access to health
care benefits, according to a recent survey.
Seven percent of respondents surveyed in a Kaiser Family Foundation study
said that in the past year, they or someone in their household decided to get
married in order to have access to their spouse’s health care benefits or vice
versa.
Getting access to health care benefits is affecting other major life
decisions people are making, according to the study. Twenty-three percent of
respondents said that during the past year they or a member of their household
had either taken a new job or turned down a job primarily because of better
health benefits.
Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they or their families were having
serious problems paying for health care as a result of the economic downturn.
Twenty percent of respondents said they were having trouble paying other bills
due to high health care costs. Three percent said they had declared bankruptcy
because of health care expenses.
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