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Download Now Self-funded health insurance plans governed by Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) are subject to the restrictions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines a "spouse" as a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife. Therefore, employers with self-funded insurance plans will not be required to offer coverage to an employee's same-sex spouse. However, employers with self-funded plans may choose to provide coverage.
Fully insured health plans are subject to state laws. Therefore, employers offering employees state-regulated coverage will be required to offer coverage to employees' same-sex spouses on the same terms offered to employees' opposite-sex spouses.
Likewise, health plans sponsored by state public sector employers are subject to state law and will be required to cover same-sex spouses on the same basis as opposite-sex spouses.
Workers' compensation. Because same-sex couples can legally marry in Iowa, survivor's benefits and wage payments available to spouses under state law will apply equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
401(k) plans. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) permits 401(k) plans to treat certain beneficiaries the same as a plan participant's spouse (as defined under federal law) when determining if a hardship has occurred that would permit a distribution from the participant's account. An IRS notice provides that any individual designated as a primary beneficiary in a 401(k) plan is treated as a spouse or ...