Columnist Calls Out Insurers on New Gender-Pricing Law
Some California health plans "appear to be playing fast and loose with ending what regulators call a discriminatory practice [and] what used to be an industry standard: Factoring in a person's gender when determining monthly premiums," Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus writes. On Jan. 1, a new law took effect that prohibits the practice, but "Blue Shield of California appears to be the only major insurer to have fully complied with the law," Lazarus writes. He concludes, "The new insurance commissioner should tell insurers that no rate increase will be approved for 2011 until each company lives up to the terms of the bargain."
- "Some Firms Still Basing Health Insurance Rates on Gender" (Lazarus, Los Angeles Times, 1/14).