Women and Health Insurance

Women who buy insurance as an individual pay up to 20% to 50% higher premiums than men for the same insurance coverage. While insurance companies argue that these higher premiums are justified, as women use more healthcare services than men, care associated with maternity and reporductive health, other claim that despite the business logic behind the higher premium, it is still discriminatory. Charging higher premiums based on racial or ethnic differences has been banned for some time, despite the potential for differences in healthcare consumption between races.