October 23, 2009

Women, equity and health care reform

Around the country 60 percent of the best-selling health care plans will charge a 40-year-old nonsmoking woman more for her health insurance than a nonsmoking man of the same age, according to a recent report by the National Women's Law Center.

The discrepancy has sparked the center's new campaign web: "Being a woman is not a pre-existing condition," complete with T-shirts and direct to congress form letters to urge legislators to make sure women are not forgotten in the health care reform debate.

The report also found that in some states, it's legal for an insurer to reject a woman who has been a victim of domestic violence, or reject a woman simply because she's pregnant or has had a c-section in the past. This Newsweek article also breaks down some other inequities.

Insurance companies can charge women more for similar coverage through gender rating, which is allowed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, the report states. This happens in the individual insurance market, not typically among large employers, who are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of gender and other factors. Still, those higher costs affect millions of women every day.

Gender, it turns out is just another characteristic that insurance companies use to determine costs, just like age or whether someone smokes. Maternity care is a not the only cause for the discrepancy. Studies find that women are more likely to go to the doctor than men.

Some women lawmakers are joining groups like the law center to demand health insurance reforms that will put an end to some of these little known provisions.

"When it comes to health insurance, women are discriminated against," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, who wants the any bill that's passed to require policies that cover mammograms and pap tests. "We pay more and we get less, and often we are denied care."