It should come as no surprise that a recent study by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) found that women are frequently discriminated against by insurance companies. Among the hard cold facts:
A 22- year-old woman can be charged one and a half times the premium of a 22-year-old man.
Many insurers also consider pregnancy and Cesarean sections a pre-existing condition.
52% of women reported trouble accessing needed health care because of cost, versus only 39% of men.
27% of employed women work part time and are thus excluded from their employers' health insurance plan, versus only 13% of men.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteIs the last bit circumstantial, though? If part time work was the mode of workplace participation for men in equal proportion to women, would they too be excluded to the same level?
That's a good question and I wondered about it myself - to the point of almost leaving it out.
ReplyDeleteI think that the part-time issue /is/ related to discrimination against women, even if not directly the fault of insurance companies. The /reason/ that more women work part time than men is that women are expected to continue to be the primary child-care giver even in a society that expects and requires them to also contribute their share to the household income. Therefore women who would be working full-time if unmarried or not working at all in order to take care of the children under different economic demands from society are both fullime caregivers and part time-workers.
ReplyDeleteConservatives oppose government funding of daycare for working moms and liberals frequently oppose government funding for stay-at-home moms and neither is willing to just do both. So government discriminates against women as a result.
So while it may not be direct discrimination by the insurance companies, it is certainly another example of how our society contrives to discriminate against women.
I was going to add you to my link list Leslie with your permission. Some of the crazies may come here from time to time so I figure I better ask first.
ReplyDeleteWish I had a reasonable answer why women pay more. It's like they're being penalized for being women. Too bad we can't transplant uteruses into the jokers that make these decisions.
Truth: Yea, I'd love to take on some of those crazies who hang out at your place. Right now my computer is at the hospital, so most of my postings are less than sterling.I'm limited in time, research, etc., and competing with everyone else in the apt complex to use one of two computers. Anyway, I'd be honored to be on your list.
ReplyDeleteThe part about pregnancy and C-sections being pre-existing condidions is the one that really infuriates me. I've always felt that God gave women the "gift" of giving birth because it's damn hard work. That's why it's called labor.