HEALTH INSURANCE
When it comes to health insurance, men typically get better rates, specifically when women are in childbearing years—although few health insurance plans even offer maternity coverage (in 2009, only 13 percent of the health plans available to a 30-year-old woman included maternity coverage). According to an article in the New York Times (“Women Buying Health Policies Pay a Penalty”), females are more likely to visit the doctor for ailments, wellness checkups, and take prescription medicine; as a result, they use their insurance more often.
In a study by the National Women’s Law Center (“Still Nowhere to Turn: Insurance Companies Treat Women Like a Pre-Existing Condition,”), it was revealed that more than 60 percent of the best-selling health insurance plans charge a 40-year-old woman who doesn’t smoke more than a 40-year-old man who does…just because she is a woman. Across the country, the study found that women who do not smoke are charged between 1 percent more (in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and 63 percent more (in Little Rock, Arkansas) than men who smoke.
According to Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), this statistic can be attributed to one thing: actuarial data.
“Women are charged more when they are younger based on the cost of medical care,” Zirkelbach said. “But as people get older, men’s rates actually do become higher than women’s with age, again based on the cost of medical care.”
But as unjust as this may seem, inequality will not reign much longer: As part of the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, gender will no longer be discriminated against, effective January 1, 2014.
According to Zirkelbach, this was fully supported by AHIP.
AUTO AND DISABILITY INSURANCE
It may be stereotyped that women are poor drivers compared to their male counterparts, but according to a study by the Social Issues Research Center, women actually have lower auto insurance rates because, statistically, men are the more aggressive drivers. The fact that men typically drive more often than women also increases their insurance rates.
Women pay higher rates for disability income insurance because, like health insurance where maternity coverage is rarely offered, women are punished simply for being the gender that has children. According to the LIFE Foundation, the likelihood that a white-collar woman will be disabled for at least three months between the ages of 35 and 65 is 31 percent. However, for women under the age of 40, pregnancy is a leading cause for disability insurance claims, according to a study by the Hartford Financial Services Group.
