LTCi Female applicants~40% higher rates?

[mickeyd]

Since LTCi is not covered by Obamacare, insurance companies are looking at penalizing womenfolk as they have the audacity of living a longer life than menfolk.

The country's largest long-term care insurer is making it tougher for people — especially women — to buy its policy.

Genworth Financial has announced that starting this spring it will begin taking gender into account when setting premiums on new policies. The reason: Women account for two out of every three dollars spent on claims, says Thomas Topinka, a company spokesman.

The change will mean that rates for female applicants could be up to 40 percent higher under the new pricing policy, says Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

Women To See Higher Prices For Long-Term Care Insurance : Shots - Health News : NPR

 

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Did something in the law change to allow LTC providers to charge more by gender? I would have thought that the actuaries could have easily predicted significantly higher costs for women.

 

[ziggy29]

I can think of several reasons why women might be responsible for 2/3 of the claims. Perhaps most obvious of them is that most married women outlive their husbands, so men that need care often still married and cared for by their spouses. Women, on the other hand, are a lot more likely to be widowed at an advanced age and thus are less likely to have a spouse who can provide their care -- and sent to an assisted living facility/nursing home as a result.

Did something in the law change to allow LTC providers to charge more by gender? I would have thought that the actuaries could have easily predicted significantly higher costs for women.

I'm not aware they were ever *not* allowed to do this. It's now prohibited in health insurance (by PPACA), but not in other forms of insurance. After all, men still do pay more (all else being equal) for life and auto insurance at the same age.

 

[mickeyd]

After all, men still do pay more (all else being equal) for life and auto insurance at the same age.

Makes one wonder why this kind of sex discrimination is still practiced and seems to be fully accepted as OK.

 

[youbet]

Makes one wonder why this kind of sex discrimination is still practiced and seems to be fully accepted as OK.

It's still practiced because until medical science finds a way to equalize life spans between the sexes, men, as a group, don't live long enough to be able to subsidize the LTC needs of the longer living women.

Hopefully if a change is enacted to eliminate this practice, it will also apply to situations where men pay more such as life insurance.

 

[donheff]

Since LTCi is not covered by Obamacare, insurance companies are looking at penalizing womenfolk as they have the audacity of living a longer life than menfolk.

Seems like a sensible reason to charge more. I vaguely remember paying a lot more than girls my age for car insurance when I was in high school. I think it was something to do with boys wrecking cars at a vastly higher rate than girls. Pass me a Bud.

 

[mickeyd]

Pass me a Bud.

All that I have in the cooler right now is Shiner Bock. Will that do?

 

[obgyn65]

Interestingly, the site immediateannuities.com also asks for one's state of residence, age and gender. If it is legal to ask for gender when providing annuities, why would it be illegal for LTCI? Not that I agree with this. Just not sure what to think on this topic.