Kansas still not offering insurance to same-sex spouses

? Ten days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages nationwide, the state of Kansas is still refusing to allow those couples to get family coverage under the State Employee Health Plan.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman Sara Belfry said Monday that the agency was still analyzing the June 26 Supreme Court ruling and all of the policies affected by it.

“We’re looking at a lot of different things, including Medicaid eligibility,” Belfry said.

KDHE’s Division of Health Care Finance administers the State Employee Health Plan as well as the state’s Medicaid program, known as KanCare, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“They’re all policy decisions that are being made that we need to analyze as a result of this ruling,” Belfry said.

Belfry’s comments came after a meeting of the state Health Care Commission, a panel that determines the design of various plans under the insurance program and determines premiums paid by employees. That commission consists of the secretary of administration, Kansas insurance commissioner and representatives of employees and retirees.

The subject of covering same-sex spouses was not discussed at the meeting Monday. But Mike Michael, KDHE’s director of the program, had said an announcement about a change might be forthcoming later in the day.

Instead, Belfry said after the meeting that agency officials were still analyzing the decision. She has previously said that such a change could be made administratively and would not require action by the Health Care Commission.

Likewise, Kansas Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda said Monday that there are still no changes in state policies regarding joint tax filings or driver’s license changes.

“We have to do due diligence to make sure nothing is overlooked,” Koranda said. “We also have to make sure all of the policies get changed.”

Koranda said she did not know when any changes would be made.

Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt was defending the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages in state and federal courts.

One of those cases is still pending in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. Judge Daniel Crabtree, who is hearing the case, has not issued any orders in that case since the Supreme Court’s ruling, although plaintiffs in the case filed a motion for summary judgment in February.

Several times during the course of those lawsuits, Schmidt said he would continue to defend the state’s laws until there was a clear decision from the nation’s highest court about the legality of those bans.

“As I have said in the past, this is a legal question that can be settled with certainty only by a decision from the nation’s highest court,” Schmidt said in January.

On June 30 , Schmidt dismissed a case in state court where he had sought to block the Johnson County District Court from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But a spokeswoman in his office said the federal court case in which the state is a defendant has not changed.

“Because Marie v. Moser … remains pending in federal district court, attorneys in our office continue to provide legal advice to their respective clients and we cannot comment further at this time,” spokeswoman Jennifer Rapp said.

But Doug Bonney, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs in that case, said the state’s refusal to change its policies could lead to further litigation.

“Because the state continues to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages for purposes of state income tax filings, driver’s license name changes, and state employee spousal health insurance benefits, the harms we sued over are continuing,” Bonney said in an email Monday.