The Sunday Denver Post ran a front-page article about how insurance companies charge women under 40 higher premiums than men. It also notes that men in their 50s payer higher premiums than women. In any case, Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marcy Morrison considers the price difference to be a penalty:
Women should not be penalized because their plumbing works differently and needs ongoing maintenance.
This is absurd. No one is penalized under a mutually agreed upon trade. No one is forcing women to buy these policies. Or for that matter, no one is forcing 55-year-old men to buy insurance policies, either. They may not like that their premiums are higher than men’s (or women’s), but they can still choose to buy or not buy the policy.
Yet, Ms. Morrison wants impose a penalty on men who want to buy the lowest-price insurance from a willing seller. She advocates that men pay more for insurance than they would if insurers and consumers were able to trade freely. To rephrase here statement:
Men should not be penalized because their plumbing works differently and needs less ongoing maintenance.
Only a third party can impose a penalty, and Ms. Morrison wants to hold the whip. And prohibiting gender-rating isn’t the only way: women and men are forbidden from buying insurance available in other states. In other words, government officials will penalize you for doing so, it’s against the law.
