Same-sex marriage ruling gives employers, attorneys much to consider in benefits coverage

Same-sex marriage ruling gives employers, attorneys much to consider in benefits coverage - Crain's Detroit Business:
"Like more than 10 percent of all Michigan employers who participated in a recent survey by the Livonia-based American Society of Employers, Henry Ford Health has offered domestic partner benefits to unmarried partners of its employees for same-sex couples only.
But domestic partner benefits also count as “imputed income” for employees at tax time and carry a financial penalty that married couples do not suffer. 
The Supreme Court certainly had a mind toward the various legal benefits of marriage, including insurance matters, in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision for the majority.
“While the states are in general free to vary the benefits they confer on all married cou­ples, they have throughout our history made marriage the basis for an expanding list of governmental rights, bene­fits, and responsibilities,” Friday’s ruling states..."