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Outlaw Gender Bias in Private Insurance
On April 21st, 16 PRCH physicians and medical students will travel to Sacramento for California Advocacy Day to lobby legislators to pass the California Health Insurance Fair Pricing Act and the Gender Discrimination in Health Insurance Rates Act. These bills aim to outlaw gender bias in private insurance, ending the practice of health insurers charging women a higher cost because of gender. Stand with PRCH to help end this unfair practice in California.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , I am writing to you today as a medical professional concerned about equal access to affordable healthcare. Please take a few minutes to learn about AB 119 and SB 54, bills that will outlaw gender bias in private insurance. In California, it is legal for private insurers to charge more for coverage based on one's sex. This practice is unfair at best and punitive at worst. Excessive premiums are a barrier to care, and put women's health at risk. I hope you will consider supporting these bills as one way to positively impact the nearly one million women in California who currently obtain health insurance on the individual market. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely, |
Campaign Launched: |
| Background Information |
PRCH supports legislation that allows equal access to affordable, comprehensive and quality healthcare. Existing law allows for differences in premium rates for individual health insurance plans based on gender. A National Women’s Law Center 2008 report found huge variations in premiums charged to women and men for identical health plans and concluded that this “gender rating” adversely affects women by creating substantial financial barriers for women seeking to obtain the healthcare they need. Maintaining the status quo on gender rating adversely impacts nearly 1,000,000 women in California who currently obtain health insurance in the individual market. Gender rating also hurts the many women in California who wish to purchase health insurance, but are unable to do so because of prices inflated by gender rating.
