And You Thought Gender Based Pricing Was Bad

By Jay on September 29th, 2009

Colorado State Senator Morgan Carroll recently wrote an article about ending gender discrimination in health insurance premiums. Women are by default charged more for health insurance until the age of 55. After age 55, men pay more. Some argue that gender has an actuarial use though, because women under age 55 have more and higher claims than men. The same goes for men over the age of 55.

Now, an insurance company called GuideOne Mutual actually had a question about “religious denomination.” And it seems that Atheists and Agnostics were charged more.

The Department of Justice sued GuideOne in federal court in Kentucky after receiving complaints about the insurer’s “FaithGuard” policy that offered homebuyers, owners and renters in 19 states special benefits and discounts if they were churchgoers.

The company has agreed to settle the lawsuit for $74,000. It also will stop asking policyholders to state their religious denomination on application forms, develop new, nondiscriminatory insurance deals, train its employees and agents on the Fair Housing Act, and report in periodically with Justice Department officials.

I wonder what kind of actuarial data they used to come up with that.

Share This