Women and Health Insurance

A recent study revealed a scandalous phenomenon: that women pay more than do men of the same age for identical healthcare coverage provided by individual insurance policies! This "gender rating" is discriminatory and MUST stop! We have to regulate the insurance market to guarantee that all insurance companies follow the same rules. No, this is not socialism, but smart government policy to stop discrimination and to introduce fairness into the health insurance system.
Yours
Bernd

Posted on Mon, Nov. 03, 2008
Women pay more for insurance -- why?

It is an unpleasant fact that life sometimes can be an uneven experience, delivering different results for the same effort, or producing failure when success is warranted. In a well-organized society such as ours, insurance is designed to even out the rough spots somewhat by spreading risk broadly.
Which is why it should come as a surprise that women pay more than do men of the same age for identical healthcare coverage provided by individual-insurance policies. What is worse, men and women are finding it exceedingly expensive, if not impossible, to find coverage for some illnesses through the individual-insurance market.

Revealing study

This is something Congress should look into, not with a mind-set of heavy-handed mandates, mind you, but with the idea of listening to healthcare consumers and insurance companies and finding common ground for new approaches. A recent study by the National Women's Law Center shed some light on the matter. See the study at www.nwlc.org/; click on the report, Nowhere to Turn . . .

The study found that the individual-insurance market -- unlike group insurance purchased through an employer -- uses ''gender rating.'' This allows an insurer to charge women higher premiums than men for the same coverage. More and more people are discovering these discrepancies thanks to the failing U.S. economy, which has resulted in job losses for hundreds of thousands of Americans, who find themselves looking for new insurance coverage.

Some recently laid-off people who had full healthcare coverage in their previous jobs are finding that they can't get coverage at any price with individual insurers for some ailments because of ''preexisting conditions.'' Moreover, many women are finding that they are paying 30 percent more for insurance than men because of their gender. Insurers say their claim experiences show that women use healthcare services more and, therefore, are charged more. In other words, women are more likely to get checkups and visit the doctor more because, well . . . they just do.

Illogical comparison

Some insurers say this is similar to auto-insurance rates that are higher for men than women because men have more accidents and file more claims. The comparison seems logical but, in fact, it really is not. Women who proactively monitor their health may identify problems earlier, get treatment sooner and ultimately cost an insurer less. A man who crashes his car isn't involved in proactive, preventive behavior.

Society's long-term interest should be to promote more of the former behavior than the latter. This should be the goal of insurers, too. Finding a nexus between affordable healthcare and a financially viable insurance market won't be easy. Congress can get closer to a solution by hearing from, and listening to, all parties.