Women pay higher rates for private health insurance
Posted
Nov 05 2008, 03:51 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
If you're one of those people who buy individual health insurance because your employer doesn't provide coverage or you work for yourself, this news may come as a shock: Women pay much more for individual health insurance than do men of the same age.
A New York Times story reported that the gap is often more than 30% and in some cases almost 50%. We're talking about identical coverage, not including the extra women have to pay for maternity care. We're comparing apples to apples.
"F.F." wrote in a thoughtful post at Feminist Finance, "And no one seems to have a very good explanation of why that might be."
F.F. shared her thoughts after reading the New York Times story examining the discrepancy. For those of you who aren't familiar with the individual health insurance market, this excerpt from the story will quickly bring you up to speed.
The individual insurance market is notoriously unstable. Adults often find it difficult or impossible to get affordable coverage in this market. In most states, insurers can charge higher premiums or deny coverage to people with health problems.
(Full disclosure: We're one of those people who don't have health insurance because of those facts.)
Laws are in place to prevent sex discrimination against workers who have group insurance. Not so in the individual market, except in a few states.
What's the justification for charging women so much more? Most of the insurance people the NYT interviewed said that women use health care more often. "They are more likely to visit doctors, to get regular checkups, to take prescription medications and to have certain chronic illnesses," the story said.
Holes can be poked in that explanation.
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For plans with high deductibles, women are paying for many of those costs out-of-pocket.
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F.F. argued that those doctor visits are often for preventive care, which would mean eventual savings for health insurers.
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Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, told The New York Times, "The wide variation in premiums could not possibly be justified by actuarial principles."
F.F. predicted in her pre-election post that John McCain's health plan would force more people out of employer-provided group health care and into the individual market. Regardless of how America's health care evolves, it's an issue that should be addressed.
"It would be swell if this sort of discrimination was prohibited," she wrote. "But right now, it's A-OK."
