Campaign launched to demand gender fairness in health insurance

posted by Michael hanson

Recently, a public-awareness campaign was launched in order to get women to speak out against unfair costs regarding health insurance.

The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) launched the campaign, which is called Being a Woman is Not a Pre-Existing Condition. Along with educating women about the disparity they face regarding health insurance costs, the NWLC wants them to contact their representatives in Congress to get them to approve health care reform that accounts for discrepancies based on gender.

Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of NWLC, said the current system lets down millions of women every day.

"In this final push toward health care reform legislation, women and men need to join ranks and tell Congress that the time is now for health care reform that works for women and their families," Greenberger said.

A new report from the NWLC shows that 95 percent of the most popular insurance plans practice "gender rating," where women are charged more than men for health insurance.

A recent report from ABC News noted that some women are being forced to choose between having children or health insurance. Some plans may come with maternity deductions of $5,000, while others make insurance coverage hinge on women being willing to get sterilized.