Women Pay Higher Premiums Than Men Of The Same Age For Identical Individual Health Insurance

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 03 Nov 2008 - 8:00 PST

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Women generally pay "much more" than men of the same age for identical individual health insurance policies, according to data from insurance companies and online brokers, the New York Times reports. Insurance companies say that this is because women ages 19 to 55 typically use more health services than men, especially during their childbearing years. According to the insurers, women are more likely than men to visit doctors, to get regular checkups, to take prescription medications and to have certain chronic illnesses. Some women still pay more for coverage under policies that do not cover maternity care, while other health plans charge women extra for optional maternity benefits, according to the Times.

Some states -- such as Maine, Montana and New York -- have laws prohibiting gender-based premium rates for individual health insurance policies. In addition, civil rights laws ban employer-sponsored health plans from setting different premium rates for the same benefits based on gender, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

According to the Times, the analysis comes as the sagging economy is forcing more people who have lost jobs that offered health benefits to purchase individual health plans. Meanwhile, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have proposed plans that would expand the use of the individual coverage market, such as tax credit programs for consumers or providing other assistance for people to purchase their own coverage. Marcia Greenberger -- co-president of the National Women's Law Center, which examined hundreds of individual policies -- said without significant changes to the individual coverage market, tax credits would be worth less to women because they would pay higher premiums.

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Cecil Bykerk, president of the Society of Actuaries and former vice president of Mutual of Omaha, said, "If maternity care is included as a benefit, it drives up rates for everybody, making the whole policy less affordable." Similarly, Elizabeth Leif, a health insurance actuary in Denver, said that many state insurance laws require insurers to cover the cost of caring for complications related to pregnancies, which insurers say can drive up costs. Thomas Noland, a senior vice president of Humana, said, "Premiums for our individual health insurance plans reflect claims experience -- the use of medical services -- which varies by gender and age," adding, "Bearing children increases other health risks later in life, such as urinary incontinence, which may require treatment with medication or surgery."

Greenberger said, "The wide variation in premiums could not possibly be justified by actuarial principles," adding, "We should not tolerate women having to pay more for health insurance, just as we do not tolerate the practice of using race as a factor in setting rates." Mila Kofman, an insurance superintendent in Maine, said, "There's a strong public policy reason to prohibit gender-based rates. Only women can bear children. There's an expense to that." However, Kofman added that "having babies benefits communities and societies as a whole. Women should not have to bear the entire expense" (Pear, New York Times, 10/30).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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