Men & Women to Pay Equally for Health Insurance

A new directive set by the European Commission will mean that insurers will not be able to discriminate between people on grounds of their sex. That means that medical insurance policies for men and women will cost the same and any differentiations will be based more around lifestyle than gender.

As reported in Health Insurance News UK women do currently pay more for their medical health insurance with some companies. However statistically it is not a lot more when you take into account the fact between the ages of 36-40 women are 80% more likely to make claims and have treatment than men. The private medical insurance companies are spreading the risk and this is benefitting women.

In other areas, for example car insurance, where men pay much higher premiums, there would be great changes and women could see a significant increase in their monthly payments.

Currently sex differentiated policies are allowed if they are based on actual differences in risk rather than prejudice.

The private medical insurance industry is not very happy about the new proposals. Mary Francis, director general of The Association of British Insurers said that, 'The insurance industry is opposed to unfair discrimination of any kind, but in this case it is only right that we point out the likely results. The commission has started out with the best of intentions, but this piece of legislation will do no one any good, '

The CEA, the European insurance and reinsurance federation said that, 'if the proposed restrictions are placed on insurance it will have the opposite effect to that which the Commission intends. These legal restrictions on risk-equivalent calculations must be avoided to ensure that insurance pricing is adequate, reasonable and fair.'

The directive, led by social affairs commissioner, Anna Diamtopoulou, will go to the European Parliament before it can be passed as law and is unlikely to come into force until 2013. The directive is backed by the UK Equal Opportunities Commission and the UK government who are committed to eradicating discrimination. The policy, if passed, will also cover age, disability and race discrimination as well as sex.