Women Pay More For Health Insurance

Statistics show that our gender influences our health but does it influence what we pay for our private medical insurance?

According to the Association of British Medical Insurers (ABI) gender can affect the cost of medical insurance cover. From the 6th April 2008 there was a change to the Sex Discrimination Regulations which now specify under which conditions insurance companies are allowed to differentiate in pricing on the basis of biological sex. Differences based on sex must be based on 'relevant and accurate statistical data.' So what is this data and how does it affect pricing?

In June 2008 the ABI published a data bulletin outlining the number of claims made by women in comparison to men. Data was drawn from four private medical insurance companies: AXA PPP Healthcare, CIGNA Healthcare, Norwich Union Healthcare, PruHealth. The data shows that from the ages of 26 and 65 women the average cost of a claim on a health insurance policy is higher than a man's. In the 36-40 year old category women peak at a claim cost that is a staggering 80% higher then men's.

The ABI are keen to point out that the data they have published are averages and there are many factors which will affect people's premiums, including their medical records, lifestyle, location, social group, age, postcode, usage and no-claims discount.

So what is the impact of this on the cost of women's health insurance? Do women in the higher claiming category have to pay 80% more to get the same health cover as men?

An analysis of recent premiums shows that women do pay more in this age group but only with some health insurance companies. BUPA, Patient Choice, Standard Life, Norwich Union and BCWA do not give online quotes that differentiate on gender but Pru Health and AXA PPP Healthcare do. Here are a few examples taken from insurance comparison site gocompare.com. They are for mid-range policies for 41 year old people living in the south. These figures were collected on 23rd January 2009.

Pru Health
Men: £52.91
Women: £56.80

AXA PPP Healthcare
Men: £50.05
Women: £50.56

BUPA
Men & Women: £36.50

Patient Choice
Men & Women: £25.56

We cannot say from these figures that women are unhealthier than men just because their claims are more costly but what we can say is that on average if you are a woman between the ages of 26 and 65 it will pay you to shop around when looking for medical health insurance.