Sex and risk in life insurance
Not all sexual discrimination is for the bad. Insurance companies discriminate all the time. Why should the good risks subsidise the bad risks? Which is why women, generally, pay less for life insurance than men do. A 30-year-old woman is, the statistics tell us, likely to live another 49.67 years, whereas her 30-year-old boyfriend will only kick on for another 43.51 years.
Insurance companies base their rates on such statistics. Therefore, if the woman is less likely to die during the specified period, she can be insured for less than a man of the same age.
Still, she is likely to be sicker. One leading insurer’s figures state a 35-year-old woman in a profession is 2.89 times more likely to be disabled for more than 30 days than a man of similar age and occupation. This means women will have to pay more for sickness and income protection insurance than men do.
Okay, then why aren’t you paying less to insure your motor cars? Everyone knows women are safer drivers than men. GIO Australia is studying its claims history and the general trend seems to be that women drivers are a better risk than men. Expect to see this ‘fact’ quantified and then turned into cheaper insurance rates for women during the next few months.
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