Opinion Pieces Respond To Findings That Women Paying More Than Men For Same Health Insurance

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 05 Nov 2008 - 9:00 PST

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The following summarizes an editorial and opinion piece that respond to a recent report detailing gender discrimination in health insurance premiums from the National Women's Law Center. Summaries appear below.

~ New York Times: As more workers lose their jobs -- and subsequently their group health insurance -- and are forced "to scramble to find affordable insurance policies in the open market," the problem will be "particularly acute for women, who often pay far higher premiums than men for the same health coverage, if they can get coverage at all," according to a Times editorial. Although the insurance industry justifies the disparity by noting that women "make greater use of health care services than do men," that does not "explain why one Missouri company charges 40-year-old women 140% more than men; another only 15% more," according to the Times. "Insurance companies long ago stopped charging premiums based on race," and there are "laws against using gender to set rates in employer-based health insurance," the Times reports, adding, "Surely it is time to eliminate gender-based premiums in the individual health insurance market as well." The Times concludes, "Otherwise women, who typically earn less than men, may find themselves priced out of adequate health coverage" (New York Times, 11/3).

~ Derick Jackson, Boston Globe: The winner of today's presidential election "should pledge to end gender discrimination in health insurance for women" and incorporate the report's findings into developing his health care plan, Globe columnist Jackson writes. Jackson notes that the report found wide variations in how states regulate health insurers, with only 12 states offering gender discrimination protection and many states allowing insurers to reject women "simply for having undergone caesarean sections in the past." Jackson writes that Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) proposal to offer a $5,000 tax credit to purchase insurance "would be worth less to women in most of the states." He adds, "Ending gender discrimination would be crucial to make such a tax credit fair." Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has said he would require insurers to cover pre-existing conditions. According to Jackson, the report "represents an immediate opportunity to show supporters of" former presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) that Obama "takes them and women's issues in general seriously." Jackson concludes, "Regardless of who wins today, unfair health insurance costs should be one of the first burdens the new president lifts off women's shoulders" (Jackson, Boston Globe, 11/4).

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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