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    Zeno Swijtink's Avatar
    Zeno Swijtink
     

    Gender Parity Issue to be Corrected by Health Insurance Industry

    Gender Parity Issue to be Corrected by Health Insurance Industry
    By: Jennifer Newell
    Published: Wednesday, 6 May 2009

    Discrimination on the basis of gender is nothing new. Women have been fighting for equal rights, equal pay, and equal treatment by employers and society alike since the dawn of time. But many people do not realize that insurance companies have been charging women higher coverage rates than men, and some members of the United States Senate have chosen to address the issue through the initial stages of drafting legislation to stop it.

    On Tuesday, May 5, the Senate Finance Committee met to discuss health care reform, specifically a closer federal regulation of the industry as a whole. Though a number of topics were brought to the floor, including single-payer health insurance plans and public versus private health care companies, it was a focus on gender parity and the need for action that seemed to resonate with most members of the committee.

    President of America’s Health Insurance Plans Karen Ignagni was present to testify at the hearing and discussed the need for an end to gender discrimination regarding health insurance policy rates. Since many lawmakers already agree that bias on the basis of health history is unethical and discriminatory, it is more than fair that insurance companies give gender the same fairness. Though Ignagni’s overall point was to address the push for a massive overhaul of the insurance industry that could allow a federally sponsored plan to compete with private insurers, the gender parity issue was of specific importance.

    Insurance companies are open to equaling the rates of men and women who apply for health care coverage, though the concession is in exchange for nixing the idea of a government-sponsored insurance company.

    Senator John Kerry (D-MA) was particularly keen on sponsoring legislation that would address gender discrimination in the insurance market. “The disparity between women and men in the individual marketplace is just plain wrong,” he said, “and it has to change.”

    He attended the committee meeting armed with research to show that women are often charged with higher premiums based purely on gender. In fact, this disparity currently affects the premiums paid by 5.7 million women in the United States, many of whom are self-employed and purchase individual coverage. It has previously been noted in studies that in California, women pay up to 39 percent more than men for individual policies. In addition, it was pointed out during the hearing that costs for women often increase during childbearing years, and some policies refuse to cover maternity care at all.

    Employer-based plans are currently prohibited from charging women higher rates than men or eliminating maternity care from plans. In addition, ten states already ban the discriminatory practice -- Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington. But many agree that a federal law to eliminate the discrimination across the board is needed.

    The bill is currently being drafted, and lawmakers hope to introduce it to the Senate by the summer of 2009.
    Last edited by Zeno Swijtink; 05-07-2009 at 04:53 AM.
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