It’s not government money paying for these health insurance policies, it’s taxpayer money (i.e., *our* money). Members of Congress, as our representatives, approved a law in 1996 so that same-sex “marriages” from one state would not have to be recognized by other states or by the federal government, which law was needed that we wouldn’t be forced to subsidize health insurance for same-sex “spouses” of federal employees.
The federal government isn’t acting as a regulator when it purchases health insurance for federal employees and their legal spouses; it is acting as an employer and a market participant. What do you suggest, that the insurance companies who provide employer-paid health insurance to federal employees cover whatever they want and whoever they want and just pass the bill to the taxpayers? So long as we have employer-paid health insurance, the employer has to agree to who and what is covered, and in the case of federal workers, U.S. taxpayers, acting through our elected representatives, are the employers. I don’t want to pay for someone’s health insurance just because she entered into a same-sex “marriage” with a federal employee. Do you?
I don’t agree with your premise that the govt should legislate the conditions that affect how insurance companies determine coverage. And one of the legislative powers in question involves the govt’s ability to define ‘spousal’ relationships and marriage. It’s clearly abusing that power.
Also, there’s a point where the taxpayer no longer has a say concerning remuneration. It’s the employees’ money, not ours.