Golinski v. United States Office of Personnel Management

Filing 9

Declaration of Karen Golinski in Support of 8 Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed by Karen Golinski. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H)(Related document(s) 8 ) (McGuire, James) (Filed on 1/26/2010) Modified on 1/27/2010 (jlm, COURT STAFF).

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

JAMES R. McGUIRE (CA SBN 189275)
[e-mail]
GREGORY P. DRESSER (CA SBN 136532)
[e-mail]
RITA F. LIN (CA SBN 236220)
[e-mail]
GRACE Y. PARK (CA SBN 239928)
[e-mail]
MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP
425 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94105-2482
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: 415.268.7522
JENNIFER C. PIZER (CA SBN 152327)
[e-mail]
LAMBDA LEGAL, Western Regional Office
3325 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1300
Los Angeles, CA 90010-1729
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: 213.351.6050
Attorneys for Plaintiff
KAREN GOLINSKI

13
14

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

15

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

16
17

KAREN GOLINSKI,
Plaintiff,

18
19
20

Case No.

v.
UNITED STATES OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT,

21
Defendant.
22
23

4:10-cv-00257 (SBA)

DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF
KAREN GOLINSKI IN SUPPORT
OF MOTION FOR
PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
Date: June 15, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Place: Courtroom 1, 4th Floor
United States Courthouse
1301 Clay Street
Oakland, California 94612

24
25
26
27
28
DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF KAREN GOLINSKI ISO MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
pa-1382223

1
2

I, Karen Golinski, hereby declare and state as follows:
1.

I am a staff attorney in the Motions Unit of the Office of Staff Attorneys in the

3

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where I have been employed for eighteen years. I am the

4

plaintiff in this matter, and submit this declaration in support of my motion for preliminary

5

injunction. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth herein, and if called upon to do so,

6

could and would competently testify thereto.

7

2.

My spouse, Amy Cunninghis, and I have been partners for twenty years. We were

8

lawfully married under the laws of the State of California on August 21, 2008, and remain legally

9

married. We became registered domestic partners with the City and County of San Francisco in

10
11

1995 and with the State of California in 2003. Amy and I have a six-year-old son.
3.

I have paid for self and family coverage under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield

12

Service Benefit Plan (“Blue Cross/Blue Shield”) to cover my and my son’s health insurance since

13

his birth in March 2003. In 2010, my biweekly premium for the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Self and

14

Family Plan is $108.91. This year, I will pay $2,831.66 in premiums to Blue Cross/Blue Shield

15

for coverage under the family plan.

16

4.

Following my marriage to Amy, on September 2, 2008, I submitted a “Health

17

Benefits Election Form” to the Human Resources Department, seeking to add Amy as my spouse

18

under my existing family coverage plan.

19

5.

On September 11, 2008, I received an e-mail from Ms. Renee Reynolds, a Human

20

Resources Generalist for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This e-mail

21

included an e-mail exchange between Ms. Reynolds and Ms. Lynda Hamke, Human Resources

22

Assistant with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (the “AO”), stating that Amy would

23

not be eligible for coverage under my family coverage plan.

24

6.

On October 21, 2008, I received another e-mail from Ms. Reynolds stating that my

25

request to add Amy as my spouse under my family coverage plan would not be processed by the

26

AO because Amy and I are of the same gender. As of the date of this declaration, my spouse has

27

not been added to my existing family coverage plan.

28
DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF KAREN GOLINSKI ISO MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
pa-1382223

1

1

7.

On October 2, 2008, I filed a complaint under the Ninth Circuit’s Employment

2

Dispute Resolution (“EDR”) Plan. A true and correct copy of the EDR Plan is attached hereto as

3

Exhibit A.

4

8.

Amy is a contract employee with a nonprofit organization and is not eligible for

5

health insurance coverage from her employer. Because I have been unable to cover Amy under

6

my health insurance plan, we have had to purchase separate, private individual health insurance to

7

cover Amy. We purchase this private insurance from Blue Shield of California (“Blue Shield”).

8
9

9.

The Blue Shield insurance is inferior in many respects to the Blue Cross/Blue

Shield family coverage. Amy has had two different insurance plans with Blue Shield since

10

September 2008. From September 2008 through June 2009, Amy’s co-payments and deductibles

11

were significantly higher than what we paid under my health insurance plan. For example, Amy

12

was required to pay a $45 co-payment for a doctor visit, while I was only required to pay $20 for

13

a primary care visit and $30 for a visit with a specialist. Amy had a $2,000 deductible, and I did

14

not have a deductible on my health insurance plan. Amy also had to pay 30% of the fees for all

15

non-emergency services, while many of the same services do not cost anything under my plan,

16

including X-rays, mammograms, and MRIs. In the case of hospitalization, Amy was required to

17

pay $250 to be admitted, in addition to 30% of all service, doctor, and medical procedure fees,

18

whereas I was only required to pay $100 for inpatient or $40 for outpatient services per day.

19

Amy also had to pay $100 for any emergency room visits and 30% of the fees for all service and

20

physician visits, whereas I only had to pay $50 for emergency room care and $30 for urgent care.

21

A true and current copy of a summary of benefits under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service

22

Benefit Plan (Karen Golinski’s coverage) is attached hereto as Exhibit B. A true and correct copy

23

of the summary of benefits under Blue Shield of California (Amy Cunninghis’s September 2008-

24

June 2009 coverage) is attached hereto as Exhibit C.

25

10.

From September 2008 through June 2009, the monthly premium for the Blue

26

Shield policy was $366. Attached as Exhibit D are true and correct copies of the insurance

27

premium bills during the time period of September 2008 through June 2009.

28
DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF KAREN GOLINSKI ISO MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
pa-1382223

2

1

11.

In May 2009, Amy was notified that, effective July 1, 2009, the premium for the

2

Blue Shield policy would increase by $63 a month, for a new monthly total of $429. Attached as

3

Exhibit E is a true and correct copy of the letter Amy received from Blue Shield.

4

12.

As of July 1, 2009, Amy switched to a less expensive insurance policy because

5

Amy and I did not believe we could afford the premium increase over an extended period of time.

6

The monthly premium for Amy’s new plan, Blue Shield of California’s Balance Plan 1700, is

7

$340. The new plan offers even less comparable coverage to my Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan and

8

to Amy’s previous plan with Blue Shield. In addition to requiring Amy to pay 30% of all

9

inpatient and outpatient medical expenses, the plan also places an annual cap of $2,500 on brand

10

name prescription medications, after which Amy is responsible for paying any and all brand name

11

medication expenses incurred. Secondarily, the plan also does not cover pregnancy-related

12

expenses. A true and correct copy of a summary of benefits under Blue Shield of California’s

13

Balance Plan 1700 (Amy Cunninghis’s July 2009 to present coverage) is attached hereto as

14

Exhibit F. Attached as Exhibit G are true and correct copies of Amy’s insurance premium bills

15

during the period July 2009 through the most recent statement of January 2010. This plan

16

provides inadequate coverage because of the prescription medication cap, and we feel Amy is

17

under-insured.

18

13.

Amy has once again investigated individual coverage options with Blue Shield

19

based on her age and geographic location, and found thirty different plans, including a plan with a

20

monthly premium of $970. None of these plans provides coverage comparable to the coverage I

21

receive because the premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket expenses exceed those of my plan.

22

Attached as Exhibit H is a true and correct copy of Blue Shield of California’s available plans for

23

a woman of Amy’s age living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

24

14.

If Amy should become seriously ill or injured and require extensive prescription

25

medication, medical treatment, or hospitalization, I fear under her existing coverage that our

26

family might suffer severe financial hardship.

27
28
DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF KAREN GOLINSKI ISO MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
pa-1382223

3

1

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the

2

foregoing is true and correct. Executed this 26th day of January 2010, at San Francisco,

3

California.

4

/s/ Karen Golinski
Karen Golinski

5
6
7

GENERAL ORDER 45 ATTESTATION
I, James R. McGuire, am the ECF User whose ID and password are being used to file the

8

DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF KAREN GOLINSKI IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR

9

PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION. In compliance with General Order 45, X.B., I hereby attest that

10

Karen Golinski has concurred in this filing.

11
/s/ James R. McGuire
James R. McGuire

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF KAREN GOLINSKI ISO MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
pa-1382223

4