Insurance rating is not a new concept. However, in the case of individual policies, health insurers have taken it to a new and disturbing level. First, the often deny coverage at all for any preexisting conditions either in total or for a period of time which ranges usually from 12 months to as much as 5 years. Second, they aggressively seek to drop individual policy owners who become ill, use what are deemed to be “excessive services”, require surgery or are felt to represent a major health related expenditure risk. Third, the premium structure is not credible as it lacks any transparency vis a vis an insurers true financial status, reserves, profits, executive compensation and so forth. In the end, rating is well known, such as young male drivers face, even if they are not all high risk. So charging a STANDARD premium adjustment for certain types of conditions which are gender, age, occupation or health related can be justified, but ONLY if regulated, consistent and applied evenly across all policies such that the result is premium surcharges which are not so onerous as to prevent individuals from obtaining coverage . . . obi jo
FROM AMA NEWS . . .
Striking new evidence has emerged of a widespread gap in the cost of health insurance, as women pay much more than men of the same age for individual insurance policies providing identical coverage, according to new data from insurance companies and online brokers. Price quotes and rate tables indicate that the disparities are evident in premiums charged by major insurers like Humana, UnitedHealth, Aetna and Anthem. Although in job-based coverage, civil rights laws prohibit sex discrimination, the individual insurance market is notoriously unstable. Some insurance executives expressed surprise at the size and prevalence of the disparities, others, such as women’s advocacy groups, have raised concerns about the differences, and members of Congress have begun to question the justification for them. Still, citing more use of healthcare services among women, especially in the childbearing years, insurance companies say they have a sound reason for charging different premiums.
Read more of this NY Times article @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/us/30insure.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
I recently had an assignment to a college class I am taking. We were asked to present a topic to agrue. OF course as a working and married mom of two teenagers, in todays world money is something very hard to come by. I struggle every day with robbing peter to pay paul. I have been fortunate that my employer pays for my health insurance. However, I have two children, one is a girl. She is about to enter the real world and will be forced to reality. Insurance is a necessaty today. Can she afford it? And why is it more than her brother would have to pay? Some insurance executives expressed surprise at teh size and prevalence of the disparities, which can make a womans insurance cost hunderes of dollars a year more than a mans. Womens advocacy groups have raised concerns about the differences, and members of congress have begun to question the justification for them.
Example: C. Kilpatrick, a healthy 33 yro real estate agen in Texas, said she has delayed having a baby because her insurance policy does not cover maternity care. If she has a baby now, it would cost her more than $8,000 out of pocket. What in the world are we paying for, and why should we be discriminated against for something the good lord has enabled us to do!
THis battle is not over, it has only just begun. Women should be treated equal to men when it comes to this topic. And in addition. Insurance already takes food off the table, now it is the cause families being forced to not bare children
In general, insurers say, they charge women more than men of the same age because claims experience shows that women use more health care services. They are more likley to visit doctors, to get regular checkups, to take prescription medications and to have certain chronic ilness. Ok, what is the world trying to say. Dont take care of yourself…dont have children. How much discrimination is there in the world today.