LGBT friendly amendment included in Health Care bill

The Health Care reform bill passed by the House yesterday included an amendment by Representative Jim McDermott (D-Washington) will eliminate the taxing of domestic partnership health insurance benefits offered by companies.

From the New York Times:

Supporters of gay rights have long been trying to change the tax treatment of health benefits provided by employers to the domestic partners of their employees. In effect, such benefits are now treated as taxable income for the employee, and the employer may owe payroll taxes on their fair-market value.

Under the bill, such benefits would be tax-free, just like health benefits provided to the family of an employee married to a person of the opposite sex.

Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, who proposed the change, said it would “correct a longstanding injustice, end a blatant inequity in the tax code and help make health care coverage more affordable for more Americans.”

Although the bill was passed by the House, its fate remains uncertain in the Senate. But I still see this as an important step towards removing one of the many "gay taxes", one that most of us can benefit from, speaking as someone who's been paying that gay tax for a while.

Now the question becomes: Are the Democrats gutsy enough to include UAFA in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform?