Calif. Bill Seeks To Stop Insurers From Implementing Gender-Based Pricing

Feb. 04--If some insurers get their way, women in California -- particularly elderly ones -- will soon pay more for long-term care than their male counterparts.

Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, who represents Vallejo, joined several others in writing a bill making gender-based pricing illegal. Yamada introduced AB 1553 on Jan. 28.

"Currently, the California Department of Insurance is reviewing new long-term care insurance products with gender-based pricing that companies have submitted for approval," Yamada said.

"Gender discrimination on health insurance premiums is illegal under the Affordable Care Act, but long-term care insurance in California is not classified as health insurance, but rather as disability insurance, so this prohibition does not apply."

Long-term care insurance reimburses policyholders for long-term services and supports, including personal and custodial care, in a variety of settings, like in the home or at a skilled nursing facility.

California is one of six states, plus the District of Columbia, where gender-priced policies are not yet offered. That would change if and when the insurance commissioner approves the new products, Yamada said. If that happens, rates for women could rise as much as 40 percent, her office notes. Montana and Colorado have already acted to prohibit this, staffers said.

"If AB 1553 passes and is signed by the Governor, policies with gender-based pricing in January 2015 will have to revert to gender-neutral rates upon renewal of those policies," Yamada said.

Changing long-term insurance's designation to health insurance would entail a much longer, more difficult process, a Yamada staff member said.

"Gender discrimination has broad public policy implications," Yamada said. "Women earn less than men in their lifetime and accumulate less wealth, so charging women more for the same policies is neither a fair nor effective solution to covering the industry's costs. Pricing based on life expectancy sets an extremely dangerous precedent."

Because women generally live longer than men, they depend on long-term care benefits more and often reduce men's dependence on these services by serving as their caregivers, Yamada's office said. According to the American Association of Long-term Care Insurance, almost 70 percent of women 75 or older are widowed, divorced, or never married, leaving them less likely to have spouses to provide care for them and more likely to reside in assisted living and nursing facilities.

In California, two of three nursing home residents are women, Yamada said.

Leanne Martinsen, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging Serving Napa and Solano said she applauds Yamada's bill.

Gender-based pricing "would make it difficult, if not impossible, especially for women with lower fixed incomes, to afford this product that could help them," Martinsen said. "They would probably do without the care."

The risk of elderly women sinking into isolated poverty, would increase were gender-based pricing to prevail here, both women said.

"Women have always had a hard time figuring out how to pay for long-term care insurance from their lower incomes and resources," California Health Advocates' Bonnie Burns said in the statement. "Gender discrimination will force even more women out of the market, shifting the cost of their care to their families and the state's Medicaid program."

Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at Rachelvth.

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