San Francisco City Attorney Files Suit Alleging Gender Bias In California Health Insurance Laws

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the state of California alleging that state regulations that permit health insurers to charge women higher premiums than men are discriminatory and violate the state constitution, the Los Angeles Times reports. The suit alleges that California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (R) and Cindy Ehnes, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, approved rules that permit so-called "gender rating," in which insurers can take into account a person's sex when determining premiums for individual policies. Women are being charged as much as 39% more than men for health insurance coverage, the suit contends.

Darrel Ng, a spokesperson for the insurance department, said, "The Legislature explicitly lists gender as one of the factors to be considered. Until the Legislature changes the laws or the courts decide differently, we will uphold the law" (Olivarez-Giles, Los Angeles Times, 1/28). Two California laws -- one passed in 1991 and the other in 2005 -- permit health insurers to take into account an individual's gender when determining premiums for individual health insurance policies (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/5). Since December 2008, two bills to ban gender rating have been introduced in the Legislature. They are AB 119 by state Assembly Member Dave Jones (D) and SB 54 by state Sen. Mark Leno (D). Herrera said if the bills are signed into law, the suit could be dropped (Los Angeles Times, 1/28).


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