The lizard gets it, but the gays don't:
The pets of Palm Beach Community College employees will qualify for discounted group medical insurance beginning in January, but domestic partners are still barred from receiving similar benefits.
And guess what? It wouldn't have cost the college anything to permit the domestic partners to have insurance. That's right. Zero.
Full-time college employees can receive a 5 percent discount on services because of the college's enrollment in the program, which covers dogs and cats, but also hedgehogs, frogs, guinea pigs, geckos, iguanas and sugar gliders - small flying mammals native to Australia.
In August, PBCC trustees voted down a proposal to allow the domestic partners of full-time employees to receive insurance benefits. The plan wouldn't have cost the school anything because it pays employee premiums only, not those of dependents.
So, what's the argument for pets over people?
Grace Truman, PBCC spokesman, said the pet insurance is not part of the employee benefits package, and she draws a distinction between the group discount through VPI Pet Insurance and human health insurance.
She said the pet insurance is the same as other group discount items available to college employees such as 12 percent off Dell computers, 15 percent off on bouquets from 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, and a $40 membership to Sam's Wholesale Club.
"There's really no comparison," Truman said about the pet insurance and domestic partner insurance. "We get discount offers from companies from time to time and we pass them onto employees without our endorsements."
Ah, just an inconvenience for the PR department that the pesky word "insurance" was used.
Side note, I'm the only person in my immediate family who went on to college - all of us to the U of F - without passing through the halls of PBCC, formerly PBJC. When I was little, and my sister went there, I used to call it the Peanut Butter and Jelly College.
Posted by binky at November 26, 2007 04:41 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Health | The Academy