Access to health coverage leads some to marry

Faced with the difficulty of obtaining health insurance, a significant number of people are opting to marry at least in part so that they can access coverage (Source: “Health Benefits Inspire Rush to Marry, or Divorce,” New York Times, Aug. 13,  2008).

In fact, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey this spring found that 7 percent of adults said someone in their household had married in the past year to gain access to health insurance. While the foundation acknowledges that the figure is not exactly scientific, they say it does illustrate that some Americans “are making major life decisions on the basis of health care concerns.”

As one minister in Covington, Ky., just outside Cincinnati, put it, “They come in and say, ‘We were going to get married anyway, but right now we really need the insurance. There may be an unplanned pregnancy, or there is an illness, or they’ve lost their job and can’t get insurance.”