Legislation Watch: Gender Equity in Health Premiums Act

Just a couple of days ago, Reps. Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA) – a brand-new Mom – and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) – mom to three, grandma to five – introduced a bill (HR 2635) to prohibit health insurance companies from engaging in “gender rating,” a practice which charges women more for health insurance premiums than men. 

In a press release, they listed the “Top 5 Reasons Health Insurance Isn’t Fair to Women.”

5. Twenty-one million women and girls went without health insurance in 2007.  In addition to requiring reproductive health care – yearly pap smears, mammograms, and obstetric care – women are twice as likely to suffer from headaches, and more likely to experience joint, back or neck pain.  Women are also four times as likely to develop osteoporosis. 

4. Women are less likely to be employed full-time than men, making them less eligible for employer-based health benefits themselves.  In fact, less than half of women can get health insurance through their work.

3. A survey by the National Women’s Law Center found that the vast majority of individual market health insurance policies did not cover maternity care.  Moreover, it is still legal in 9 states for insurers to reject applicants who are survivors of domestic violence.

2. In a recent national survey, more than half of women (52%) reported delaying or avoiding needed care because of cost, compared with 39% of men.  In addition, one-third of women were forced to make a difficult trade-off such as using up their savings, taking on debt, or giving up basic necessities. 

1. Women are often charged higher premiums than men.  Holding other factors constant, a 22 year old woman can be charged one and a half times the premium of a 22 year old man.

What to do now? The bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees. Is your representative on one of those committees? Great! Call him/her and ask for their support of HR 2635 when it comes up for a vote. If your representative isn’t on one of those committees, you could always call Rep. Henry Waxman (chair of Energy and Commerce) or Rep. Charlie Rangel (chair of Ways and Means) to ask (1) for their support of the bill and (2) for them to bring it up for a vote in committee as soon as possible.

A similar bill has been introduced Senate-side: S. 969. Sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), it has been referred to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Photo credit: Steve Rhoades on Flickr. Creative Commons License.