I Am Not A Pre-Existing Condition

Perhaps the most stunning revelation in the health care reform process is the finding that being a woman is essentially a pre-existing condition in the eyes of insurance companies.

We've heard about how being a victim of domestic violence, being pregnant or having had a previous c-section can prevent a woman from qualifying for private insurance. Despite how shocking this all is, it  becomes really problematic if a public option is not included in the health care reform package when and if it is ever passed.

Today, the National Women's Law Center is trying to raise awareness about these issues and more by announcing a new public awareness campaign called "Being a Woman is Not a Pre-Existing Condition." The goal of the national campaign is to educate women about the disparities they face in health care coverage and rally them to contact their Members of Congress to demand that Congress pass health reform legislation that works for women.

The Center also released a new report, Still Nowhere to Turn: Insurance Companies Treat Women Like a Pre-Existing Condition, which provides new data about the inequities that women face in health insurance such as:

• The extent of gender rating, in which insurance companies charge women more than men for the same coverage, worsened since the Center issued its landmark Nowhere to Turn report in 2008; 93% of the best-selling plans in the individual insurance market practice gender rating in 2009 compared to 83% in 2008.

• Gender rating also occurs in the group market; insurance companies in most states are allowed to charge a business more for coverage if it employs women. Some states have protections against this discriminatory practice, but these are typically limited to small groups - such as businesses with 50 employees or less. Moderate-sized and larger businesses are subject to gender rating in all states except Montana.

• The gender gap for younger women has grown significantly in the last year; in 2009, 25-year-old women are charged as much as 84% more than men for individual health plans, compared to as much as 45% in 2008.

• To further examine the arbitrary nature of the current system, NWLC looked at premiums charged 40-year-old female non-smokers versus 40-year-old male smokers. In most states, it often costs more to be a woman than to be a male smoker; more than 60% of best-selling plans charged 40-year-old female non-smokers more than 40-year-old male smokers.

Those who want to join the campaign can visit the website to learn about the issues and upcoming events, share the facts with their own networks via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and post about the issue on their blogs and websites. They also can send a message to their elected officials in Congress to tell them that health care reform must meet the needs of women and their families.

You can take action right here on Change.org by signing this petition.