SACRAMENTO — A bill to end gender discrimination in health insurance premiums in the individual market was signed into law last night. Assembly Bill 119, by Assemblymember Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) and Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would prevent health insurers from charging men and women different rates for the same health insurance policies in the individual market.

“Higher rates for women keep them from being able to afford coverage, which means reduced access to health care and poorer health outcomes for women,” said Assemblymember Jones. “Women seeking health insurance in the individual market will now have protections from gender discrimination,” he said. 

“Employers cannot allow health insurance companies to charge higher premiums to their customers on the basis of gender, and that same policy should apply to individual health care plans,” said Senator Leno. “Women are more likely to work part time, less likely to receive health insurance from their employers, and often get paid lower wages for doing the same job as their male counterparts. Insurers should not make matters worse by charging women more than men for health insurance,” he said.

A 2008 report from the National Women’s Law Center found huge variations in the rates insurers charged women and men for identical health plans, the vast majority of which do not cover maternity benefits. The nationwide study concluded that some insurers charged men and women the same prices, while others charged women significantly more.

Gender-rated premiums have recently been in effect for 8 of the top 10 selling health insurance products in the individual market in California.  While some insurance companies continue to charge men and women the same price, others charge women 5% or 10% or even 40% more than men – a discriminatory and arbitrary practice

In California more than one million women who obtain their health insurance through the individual market were adversely affected by gender rating. During difficult economic times, people who lose their jobs often lose coverage and many employers are bound to cut their health care plans, exacerbating the problem.  Although California law prohibited discrimination in health insurance premiums on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, marital status and sexual orientation in the individual market, the law did not prohibit discrimination based on gender in the individual market until the Jones bill was signed into law. 

In December, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a lawsuit against the state to end this gender discrimination, but waited for the outcome of this legislation before moving forward with the lawsuit. “AB 119 will rid California’s health insurance laws of their open sex discrimination, help over a million Californians obtain affordable health care coverage, and assist overburdened public health systems,” Herrera wrote in a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger earlier this month.

AB 119 is sponsored by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists District IX (ACOG) and the San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.  This new law takes effect on January 1, 2011.