Jezebel has a very interesting post about McCain’s health plan and what it will mean for everyone, but especially women. I encourage you to go read the whole thing, but here are some key excerpts (emphasis mine):
According to a study by the Times, women in the individual insurance market — the one McCain wants us to get our health insurance from if he becomes President — pay significantly higher premiums throughout their working lives than men do. In cases from Colorado to Florida to Ohio (swing states all!) women could expect to pay between 22 and 49 percent more than their male counterparts. (Note that the federal government currently does not allow employer-sponsored health insurance — the kind McCain wishes to wipe from the map — to distinguish between men and women when pricing.)
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In general, insurers say, they charge women more than men of the same age because claims experience shows that women use more health care services. They are more likely to visit doctors, to get regular checkups, to take prescription medications and to have certain chronic illnesses.
Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, also points out that, the differential in pricing based on gender, McCain’s tax credit for purchasing health insurance — $2,500 for you single ladies out there — will actually erode in value faster for women than men.
In the meantime, insurance professionals have one good reason not to make insurance pools gender-neutral:
Cecil D. Bykerk, president of the Society of Actuaries, a professional organization, said that if male and female premiums were equalized, women would pay less but “rates for men would go up.”
Mr. Bykerk, a former executive vice president of Mutual of Omaha, said, “If maternity care is included as a benefit, it drives up rates for everybody, making the whole policy less affordable.“
So, this is what women can look forward to; higher premiums than men because we statistically visit the doctor more, and use more preventative care. Higher premiums because we were born with the appropriate plumbing to further the human species, but without any actual assistance in making that happen. Are men not just as invested in maternity care as the woman carrying their child? Would men fight these higher premiums that would go towards some assurance that their child was born healthy?
Aside from the obvious glaring issues I have with this, here are a few other points that could potentially be a reality under a McCain/Palin Adminstration:
- Equal pay for equal work will not be guaranteed to a woman, but higher insurance premiums will be. We’ll be making less and paying more.
- If you become pregnant due to rape or incest, you will need to carry it out, but maternity care will have to come out of your own pocket.
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