Tova Hack of Valencia, California is now paying more for her health insurance. She just got a renewal on her Blue Cross plan and the premium has increased 20% to $119 per month.
Because she is a woman.
She is crying foul.
"I don't think it's fair at all," said Hack. "I'm in perfectly fine health."
So?
Would she have been satisfied with the increase if her health was poor?
as far as Blue Shield is concerned, Hack and all other women are somehow more accident-prone, or more likely to break a bone, or more susceptible to costly ailments.
Why? Because they're women.
Says who?
"Our egghead actuaries crunched the numbers based on all the data we have about healthcare,"
Egghead actuaries.
Is that their official title?
And then there is this.
Individual health insurance typically costs more than group coverage because the risks can't be spread among a large number of people. Such risk pools allow all people with group policies to be insured equally, without biases for age or gender.
That's not a quote from Blue or any other carrier. So what idiot reporter inserted that bit of information?
Idiot reporter.
That is their official title.
But parsing rates according to gender is a relatively new phenomenon
Another non-quote from our idiot reporter.
Back to the pricing differential . . .
By age 20, women are paying $119 monthly, while men are charged $110.
Sounds like men need to complain they are being under-charged and that isn't fair.
Where is our idiot reporter when we need them?