Gender-rating — or what some term as flat-out sexual discrimination — is linked to the simple fact that women, particularly those under age 50 or so, go to the doctor more often than men. (Denver Post)
Insurance is more for women because they go to the doctor more often, and it costs more to provide them health services. Insurance companies are in business to make money, and their profit margin is much smaller, say, than the "medical marijuana" dispensaries going up all over the state.
There! That was easy. But wait...
But outrage over how women are treated in the individual health insurance market is mounting as stories emerge of companies refusing to cover maternity benefits and denying coverage because of past domestic violence or cesarean sections... (Denver Post)Smells like some well-timed propaganda to me. This has always been an issue. It's no coincidence these "stories are emerging" at this point in time.
Life insurance for men is more expensive because a man is statistically more likely to die than a woman, and women live longer. Is that fair?
Auto insurance is almost twice as expensive for young men compared to rates for new women drivers. Why? Because young boys are testosterone fueled hot rods and cause more accidents than girls, so they get charged more as a group. I don't recall concerned citizens protesting these injustices...
Women Pay Less Later On...
Bonnie Erbe at CBS News points out...
...as people get older, the gender rating process reverses, with men paying more for their insurance than women.Fairness is not the Issue
As long as there are price differences in health insurance (it's always more expensive for older Americans, for example), then charging younger women and older men higher rates does not on its face strike me as bias.
This is what happens with all collectivist projects. We all throw money in a pool (or have is confiscated from us by a coercive government) and soon the fighting starts over who did or didn't get their fair share. Trying to bring rationality and actuarial tables into the argument just confuses id-driven collectivists.
Hearing the term "fair distribution" should clue you in that the logic of the free market is no longer in play.
This is why Big Pharma and Big Insurance is in bed with Obama. When the free market goes out the window, those in power make the rules, so you better start sucking up if you want to stay in business. It's called Crony Capitalism.
13 comments:
You call it Crony Capitalism, I call it:
1. Pay to Play (Chicago term)
2. Life
3. Reality
4. Business as usual
I am a woman.
I am proud that I am a woman.
I am DIFERENT from men and I am PROUD of that difference. I do not want to be treated like a man and I do not wanted to be ashamed that I am NOT a man.
That is the problem with collectivistism. It does not embrace differences. It does not celebrate differences or even acknowledge them for that matter. Instead, it imposes rules and limitations on people in order to force everyone into the same mold. This is a mold that does not fit everyone and therefore it forces people to fight their nature and repress their individuality.
On a similar but different note; yesterday I was curious about what countries have the highest suicide rate. I honestly thought America would be high on the list due to all the stereotypes out there about the U.S. Such as materialistic or even decades of removing God from our programming. However, I was suprised that America was not at the top of the list. My research indicated that America's indiviuality and freedom for the pursuit of happiness, does appear to be resulting in happiness. America is not even near the top of the suicide list. The #1 country for suicide is Finland! Immediately I thought to myself, "isn't Finland Socialist? Perhaps that is the reason. Perhaps it is the result of large government forcing its views on diverse masses. ie: Collectivism forces people to repress their true nature and therefore creates misery."
I googled "Is Finland a socialist country?" and got this on wiki answers (sounds familiar):
Although Finland is not a fully socialist country in that means of production are not state-owned, overall it is fair to describe the country as a socialist one; wealth redistribution is extreme even by European standards, and the country suffers from all the economical and social maladies inherent to socialism.
Tax rate in Finland is even by looking at the income tax alone: typically the employee pays approximately 30% income tax, but the rate is heavily progressive for purposes of wealth redistribution and can be much less with low salaries. However, the mandatory payments to various pension and other funds by both employer and employee account for well over one third of the actual salary, and even this still does not yet account for the VAT and corporate taxes; thus overall tax rate is enormous and in fact the vast majority of GDP is circulated through an inefficient and wasteful government bureaucracy.
For the above reasons, the Finnish society should therefore be considered a socialist one, although with some capitalistic and democratic characteristics. While the Finnish system does allow free elections and private ownership and is therefore not fully comparable to a totalitarian socialist regime such as the one in the former USSR, the massive state involvement in economy, monopoly in education (allowing indoctrination of children to accept the significant infringements on individual freedom) and severe restrictions in gun rights make the system still ultimately a socialist one, rather than a free society.
Health care belongs on Main St. not Wall St.
Medicare foe one and all.
Women do tend to go the doctor more often than men, fair enough. The reason being is most women are around children and children tend to get sick, and then they get sick.
Pre-natal care is essential, so again women must go to the doctor must go often.
Then there are the yearly exams that can help save a woman's life, however that is NOT covered by most insurance companies and women have to pay out of pocket.
However, I do not believe that insurance companies should discriminate regardless.
Great post!
Good stuff, Silverfiddle. Big Pharma and Big Insurance might want to read Atlas Shrugged for some insight on what happens to those who bed down with gubmint.
I just wanted to say this was an informative read, or reason enough to inspire me to catch a couple other view's on it. I frankly had no idea that women pay more in premium's than men on health insurance. On insured driver's, well , I better not even comment on that .... as far as the worst driver's I've encountered on the road's, I shouldnt have to give you much clue Mr.Silverfiddle. If there is one thing I am good at, it's driving, but too .... I drive more than most folk's do.
Obama in with pharma and big insurance .... well that's a unique one that I havent heard.
Thank You Sir .........
FAIR! FAIR! When did I ever promise you that life would be fair?
GOD.
then I suggest that you men start smoking a lot, and early. Your annuities will be higher because your mortality rate will be projectively higher. As you will be paying more for your health insurance anyway, you might as well be able to retire early through ill-health and get as much annuity as you need.
But as the famous Winston Churchill once said: men die before their wives do, because they want to.
the price of peace at last is never too high, when you live with nags.
anyway, what do I know or care? I get free healthcare thanks to National Insurance tax, I can go to any hospital I want and get treated without having to pay out for privilege and I can get surgery for free. Vive le UK and the overstretched, overworked, bound-by-red-tape yet still effective NHS.
That is, of course, as long as I am in the queue before all the asylum seekers get there....
Yes, Mermaid, men pay more for life insurance... I do hope you stay in good health. Nothing is so expensive as when it is "free."
Some people still believe in fantasies like the tooth fairy and free stuff.
I wished healthcare would be that way, healthcare companies should derive differences beyond gender, i.e. people who do drugs vs people who don't, people who work out more vs people who only watch tv and so on. that would be a great marketing idea for future health care companies. I think we are on the path to do that, our economy is failing, housing market keeps dropping, it will get to the point where no body will be able to afford almost anything and prices will have to decline and why not decline with a string attached to them. i.e. periodic physical exams, etc. Remember that the USA will soon not be #1, with globalization and China pretty much dictating the economy of almost every single currency in the world.
You mean the tooth fairy isn't real? Shit.
Anon: Life insurance does work that way. Higher premiums are what caused me to take serious (non pharma) measures to get my cholesterol down. I don't know why health insurance doesn't. One more way health care avoids market reality.
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