Women charged $1 billion more than men for health care: report

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/19/women-charged-1-billion-more-than-men-for-health-care-report/

The National Women’s Law Center released a report Monday morning that found health insurance companies have charged women $1 billion more than men for the same premium coverage, leading to the organization launching a campaign for women to fight against discriminatory practices.

The report, Turning to Fairness: Insurance discrimination against women today and the Affordable Care Act, documented the various ways the health insurance industry treated women unequally in obtaining affordable health care.

Though the practice of gender rating, or charging women more for the same coverage, women are paying a $1 billion more than their male counterparts. States that haven’t banned gender rating have seen women charged more for 92 percent of best-selling health plans.

In most states, non-smoking women are commonly charged more than even smoking men. And even with maternity coverage excluded, nearly a third of plans analyzed found that 25 and 40-year-old women were charged at least 30 percent more or even higher than men for the same coverage.