Insurance Industries Forbidden from Using Gender as A Factor in Europe

By Juliana Kenny
TMCnet Managing Editor

Gender is no longer allowed as a factor into medical insurance proceedings, as per a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice. Insurance companies cannot use gender as an actor in distinguishing premium payments in independent medical insurance cases.

In experts in the field believe that this latest ruling will have a negative effect on customers by ruling out important factors that differentiate men and women’s separate health issues. Kevin Stelfox, sales director at Health Insurance Solutions stated, “What this ultimately means is that despite gender being a scientifically proven factor determining life expectancy and the chance of suffering certain illnesses, is that medical insurance providers cannot take it into account. This in turn means higher premium, particularly for women and there's a real chance of people being priced out of the market."

There are tons of providers in the U.K., for both health and life insurance, and while many citizens have government-subsidized health insurance, measures such as this one from the ECL require more attention from citizens to advice coming from independent medical insurance providers.

Stelfox continued to encourage the exploration of independent health insurance, "Go to independent advisers – people who aren't tied to a certain provider. These are big changes in the industry and advice from someone who knows the effects of the changes and the ins and outs of new regulations is critical. Independent advisers should also search the entire market, as opposed to just obtaining quotes from one or two providers. With prices certain to rise, searching the entire market is essential."

Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.

Edited by Juliana Kenny