Some couples marrying for health insurance

NEW YORK, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A health policy research group says a poll it conducted this spring indicates health insurance is the reason some U.S. residents are getting married.

The Kaiser Family Foundation says 7 percent of adult respondents in its survey reported someone in their household had married during the past year in order to gain access to medical insurance, The New York Times said Wednesday.

The foundation cautions that the poll numbers shouldn't be taken literally but rather as an intriguing indicator that some Americans "are making major life decisions on the basis of health care concerns."

A case in point is Brandy Brady and Rick Huggins who met in Lake Charles, La., last February and decided to marry two months later, the Times said. Aside from romance, the couple told the Times that Huggins' health insurance policy is behind their rush to the altar.

Stephen L.J. Hoffman, an officiant at a wedding chapel in Kentucky, says he is no longer shocked that 1-in-10 couples cite health insurance as the reason for their marriage, the newspaper report said.