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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!tekecs!annej
From: annej@tekecs.UUCP (Anne Jacko)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Supreme Court decision
Message-ID: <1743@tekecs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 27-Jul-83 14:04:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekecs.1743
Posted: Wed Jul 27 14:04:17 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Jul-83 20:43:06 EDT
References: abnjh.206
Lines: 48

I'm a member of NOW, and I generally support what they're trying
to do.  But I was having trouble swallowing the idea that insurance
companies are discriminating on the basis of sex by varying
their rates for different risk groups.  Yesterday I received
a letter from NOW about the Non-Discrimination in Insurance Act.  
The letter flames a bit, since it's intended to motivate
the reader to send money, but I thought it contained some
interesting information.  It's a least a change from what
the insurance companies are saying.

	...the [insurance] industry has been spending millions
	of dollars to dupe the public.  Most outrageous of all,
	one of the major messages they're sending is that the
	supporters of this legislation...while "well-intentioned,"
	are not terribly bright.  They insist that we are
	supporting the bill for "the principle of the thing,"
	that we think equality for equality's sake is worth it,
	even though passage of the bill would cost women money.

	...It is a lie that women benefit from the insurance
	industry's sex-based pricing system.  Our groundbreaking
	research on that system has demonstrated *conclusively*
	that sex discrimination in insurance cheats women and
	yields inflated profits for insurers....Women pay
	*up to twice as much as men* for disability and
	health insurance, a difference that is completely
	unjustified by the statistical data!...Only about 15%
	of women actually do live longer -- yet *all women*
	are penalized for something they cannot change....
	While some women may pay lower prices than men their
	age for auto insurance up to the age of 25, the
	industry's own figures show that *women have lower
	accident rates throughout their entire driving lives* --
	one-third lower!  Therefore, the real news is not that
	young women pay less than young men, it's that *women
	are cheated by paying the same as men from age 25 on.*
	...Over a lifetime, a woman who has auto, health, 
	disability, and life insurance, and an annuity, will
	pay $15,732 *more* than a man will pay for the same
	coverage...

	...[there is] compelling evidence that the
	insurance industry played a significat role in blocking
	passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.


-- Anne Jacko, Tektronix
...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!annej