Women and Health Reform: The Latest Data

Judy Waxman, Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights, 
National Women's Law Center  

This week, we released a new report, Still Nowhere to Turn: Insurance Companies Treat Women Like a Pre-Existing Condition, uncovering the latest data on the disparities women face in health care coverage. Some of our findings included:

• The extent of gender rating -- in which insurance companies charge women more than men for the  same coverage -- has remained abysmal since we issued our landmark Nowhere to Turn report last year. A full 95 percent of the best-selling plans in the individual insurance market practice gender rating in 2009, compared to 93 percent in 2008.

• Gender rating of premiums also occurs in the group market; insurance companies in most states are allowed to charge a business more for coverage of its female employees. Although some states have protections against this discriminatory practice, these protections are typically limited to small groups - such as businesses with 50 employees or less. Moderate-sized and larger businesses are subject to gender rating in all states except Montana.

• We found even more egregious examples of gender rating among 25-year-olds in 2009, using the same random sampling methods as in 2008.  At this age, some women are charged up to 84 percent more than men for individual health plans that exclude maternity coverage.

• To further examine the arbitrary nature of the current individual market system, NWLC looked at premiums charged 40-year-old female non-smokers versus 40-year-old male smokers. In most states, it often costs more to be a woman than to be a male smoker; more than 60 percent of best-selling plans charged 40-year-old female non-smokers more than 40-year-old male smokers.
  

To find out more about women and health reform and to find out how you can take action, visit our new campaign website, Being a Woman Is Not a Pre-Existing Condition.


The views expressed by Guest Bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for Children and Families.