Voluntary health insurance, which includes prepaid medical plans, health and complementary insurance, is on the rise, especially after the uncertainty brought about by the covid-19 pandemic. But gender and age differences create a gap so that everyone can access services and rates under equal conditions.
A study by Queseguro, a platform that is responsible for comparing insurance prices, indicates that women pay the highest rates. In some cases, up to 66.5% more, compared to men of the same age and that 18-year-olds can find coverage up to 277% cheaper, compared to a 55-year-old adult. These differences are argued in the market by the amount of services that each of the affiliates may require.
It should be remembered that WEEK portrayed at the time the case of Leonor de Silva, a pensioner who was diagnosed with cancer 25 years ago, which was treated by the health policy she had years ago and which at that time it worked very well for his treatment.
The policy had been purchased with an addendum for cancer and that is why she felt satisfied with the productbut two years later her insurance broker called her to inform her that they were no longer going to renew her policy, arguing that it was not convenient for them to have a cancer patient and that her treatment had been given by mistake.
Since then and with her pre-existence, Leonor has not been able to access any prepaid medical plan and is only served by the EPS to which she is affiliated. His friends They told him that maybe he could have a complementary health plan, which is cheaper and offers coverage similar to prepaid, but his EPS did not have that plan.
When he finally got it Leonor was the first in line to join, although they did not receive it either; That time her explanation was that because she was over 70 years old, she could no longer do it.
“95% of voluntary medical insurance depends on the age variable, and the plans that are not affected are usually indemnity plans or similar,” says the Queseguro study.
In the case of prepaid medicine, the primary variable is gender. More than half of the plans in this segment offer cheaper plans for men, compared to women. Comparing two adults, of both sexes, between 40 and 44 years old, the price for women is 66.5% more expensive.
The study also revealed that insurance companies compete for large groups of people. For this reason, some products offer discounts when the insurance is contracted at the company level for workers. In addition, depending on the product, insurance can provide a greater discount if a greater number of employees are benefited.. To give an example, the prices are usually lower prices when you enroll more than 100 workers, instead of 20 of them.
Due to the above, they recommend, before making the decision of which insurance or policy to acquire, to use all the tools that allow a comparison to be made to choose what is most in line with the needs.