As many of us already know, it’s the 21st century and we still have inequalities based on gender. Women are still fighting for equal rights, equal pay, and even equal cost of health insurance. Insurance companies are claiming that things like pregnancy and childbirth make women more expensive to cover, which justifies higher premiums based on gender.
In Florida, this issue is being more closely examined. According to health insurers, after excluding childbirth costs, women are being considered more expensive to cover than men. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida claims this is because women seek more services in their earlier years, which helps then stay healthier, while men seek less services until they are older, which then costs them more in their later years.
Does that mean that women should not have the right to seek preventative and follow up care that will help them stay healthy as they age, just because men don’t? To many, this sounds like an unacceptable form of gender discrimination. If the Florida legislature passes their bill ending premium inequities, it would be a long deserved step for women and health payment equality.
Via Miami Herald
Contributed by Angela Donadic, Policy and Advocacy Fellow
Blue Cross of California has used gender neutral pricing in the past.
Pricing was only based on age. The ages used were ten year age bands (i.e. 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-64. Also, health underwriting was considered in a narrow band of 10 percent favorable or unfavorable – eliminating inequality based on health status (i.e. overweight, smokers, diabetics, hypertensives, asthmatics etc.).
The result is higher pricing for the majority. Claimants typically make up less than half of the total of insureds in the health plan.
Claims cost drives insurance rates. Claims costs are payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers made by the insurance companies on behalf of their insured customers.
Younger women do, in fact, visit the doctor more frequently than young men – who, as a group, rarely visit the doctor for annual preventative exams. Older men do have more expensive maladies than women as they age. The point of inflection for insurance rates is about 40 years of age. The point of inflection for claims costs is about 40 years of age.
Eliminating premium inequities, as they are referred to in the post, will be achieved by using what are known in the insurance industry as composite rates. This is merely smoke and mirrors. Rates can easily be combined or separated. The State of Florida could set the rate at one single number for all men and women – true equity! The price would cover the claim cost generated by all insureds. The claim cost is the claim cost – it doesn’t and won’t change.
The result of the legislation, if enacted, would be to raise the rates on older women. Without the legislation, older women likely will continue to pay less in premium than their male contemporaries.