Time: "Women should pay more for health care" [View all]

http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/23/women-should-pay-more-for-health-care/

First, let’s address the obvious. Women carry and deliver babies. Maternity care is expensive, and a rising number of women are taking on these costs without the help of a husband. (Nearly half of American first-child births occur outside of wedlock.)

But childbearing is not the only reason women’s health costs are higher. There are certain non-sex-related ailments that plague women with more frequency. When I sustained my second significant injury from running this year, I learned that stress fractures are more common among women. This also goes for strains and sprains. Women’s bodies tend to be smaller and more prone to wear and tear.

Yet women also tend to live longer. Life expectancy for American women is 81 years, compared with 76 for men. That’s great news for women who get to enjoy more life, but it’s also five more years of costly doctor’s visits and treatments. Men have a shorter lifespan, in part because they are three times more likely to die in accidents (13 times more likely to be killed while at work) and three times more likely to be murder victims. Unexpected and sudden deaths are tragic, but they are also cheap compared with deaths due to long-term health conditions. End-of-life care can be the most expensive kind of health care, and women survive to consume more of it.

Women’s greater attentiveness to their own health likely also contributes to their longevity. Pregnancy and childbearing aside, women seek preventive care and visit doctors more often. But these additional screenings cost money, and the person receiving the care should pay for it, not other members of her insurance pool (community-rated or not). After all, women may reap the benefits of this behavior by living longer lives; they should also take on the costs.

Although I think it's important to acknowledge the underlying facts she describes, I don't agree with the author's conclusion. I think the fewer rating criteria the better, and personally I think age is the only appropriate one.

Reasonable people can disagree with the appropriate solution.

It requires an odd definition of "oppression" when the oppressors agree to pay more to guarantee the longer lives of those they oppress.