Unisex tariff

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A unisex tariff is an insurance tariff that does not use the sex of the policyholder as a tariff criterion, although it affects the risk assessment. The unisex tariffs have been in effect for all newly concluded insurance contracts since December 21, 2012. According to the judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), gender, in contrast to other factors, may no longer be taken into account.

Economic evaluation

Graphic representation of the 2008/10 life table of the Federal Statistical Office. Red = women, blue = men.

In life and pension insurance , in particular, gender plays an important role as a tariff criterion, as the life expectancies of the sexes differ (for example, women in Germany have a life expectancy that is around five years longer than men). In the case of a unisex tariff - assuming otherwise the same conditions - men and women receive similar (but not the same) benefits for the same contribution.

In the case of a unisex tariff, the contribution amount of each gender is systematically different from the amount paid to the same gender. There is an economic cross-subsidization of one sex to the other. The recipient is always the gender with the higher risk, for example men in life insurance and women in pension insurance.

Primarily, this increases the insurance premiums for the lower-risk sex; for the riskier, they decrease. There is also the risk of an adverse selection : the higher premiums reduce the willingness of the lower-risk sex to take out insurance and, conversely, it increases for the higher-risk sex. This worsens the overall risk of the insurance and forces an additional increase in insurance premiums. In extreme cases, the insurance would become so unattractive for the lower-risk sex that only the higher-risk sex would ask the insurance (and the premium would then reach the same level as it had previously for this group).

Possible alternative strategies of insurers are also discussed. This creates an incentive for the insurer to concentrate on the lower-risk sex when advertising and addressing customers, since the portfolio risk is reduced with the same premiums. Particularly in the field of health insurance, but also life and pension insurance, there is the possibility that the insurer uses individual risk premiums or the rejection of insurance applications from members of the higher-risk sex in order to reduce its risks.

Political discussion

Critics of the unisex regulation claim that efforts to introduce unisex tariffs have so far only been made when women have to pay higher contributions than men, but not the other way around. However, since there are also insurance companies in which women were less burdened before the introduction of the unisex tariffs (car insurance, term life insurance, death benefit insurance), this is controversial.

The failed draft of the Anti-Discrimination Act stipulated that the data and the calculation would have to be disclosed if gender was a determining factor in the risk assessment in health insurance tariffs.

Proponents of unisex tariffs claim that life expectancy is not only influenced by gender, but also by other social factors such as income or educational status. Using gender alone as the basis for unequal treatment in tariff structuring is therefore legally inadmissible. The Advocate General at the European Court of Justice, Juliane Kokott , stated in her final motion:

“Direct unequal treatment on the basis of gender is - apart from specific support measures in favor of members of a disadvantaged group ('affirmative action') - only permissible if it can be established with certainty that there are relevant differences between men and women who do Require treatment. However, it is precisely this security that is lacking if insurance premiums and benefits were calculated differently for men and women alone or at least largely on the basis of statistics. It is then generally assumed that the - only statistically evident - different life expectancy of male and female insured persons, their different willingness to take risks in road traffic and their different inclination to claim medical services are largely due to their gender. "

On December 14, 2012, the Federal Council referred the so-called SEPA Accompanying Act, which, among other things, was supposed to give the unisex tariff the required legal basis, to the mediation committee as far as the legal basis for the reorientation of the valuation reserves is concerned. The unisex tariff will be transformed nationally independently of this.

European law situation

The provisions on differences in tariffs are based on several equality directives of the European Union:

  • The Directive 2004/113 / EC implementing the principle of equal treatment for men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services: The directive allows for a transition period of first five years, a departure from the unisex rates in national legislation, when gender is a determining factor based on relevant and accurate actuarial and statistical data.
  • Directive 2006/54 / EC on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation: This directive also regulates, among other things, equal treatment in company social security systems. There is therefore a prohibition of discrimination in the calculation of contributions and benefits. However, voluntary, company-based systems and systems financed by voluntary contributions by employees are excluded.

With reference to Directive 2004/113 / EC, the European Court of Justice ruled on March 1, 2011 in Case C-236/09 that unisex tariffs will be mandatory for all new insurance contracts from December 21, 2012. This limits the insurers' freedom of contract.

Insurance with unisex tariffs

Since January 1, 2006, pension insurances in Germany that are eligible as Riester pensions must be based on unisex tariffs. Contracts that already existed before are not affected by the law. Pension schemes that are not eligible continue to use gender as a tariff criterion. However, the unisex tariff will be introduced from 2012. An overview of what will change with the introduction of the unisex tariffs for insurance customers can be found below. a. at the Association of the German Insurance Industry .

Individual insurance policies with gender-specific tariffs

Life insurance

Unisex tariffs will also apply to endowment and term life insurance from the end of 2012. Market observers expect this to have different effects on the contributions. In life insurance, premiums for men are more likely to fall, whereas for women they are more likely to rise. The reason for this lies in the lower life expectancy of men, which means that male insured persons are more likely to have to pay benefits, especially in the area of ​​term life insurance. However, the final effects will only become apparent with further market developments from 2013 onwards.

Private health insurance

With the judgment of the European Court of Justice of March 1, 2011, only unisex tariffs have been offered in private health insurance since December 21, 2012. Such tariffs have long been required for private health insurance because the tariffs for women are significantly higher here. The reason for this is the higher risk of the insurer, which is mainly due to the longer lifespan of women and their more frequent doctor visits. Pregnancy costs are already borne by both sexes. Furthermore, it is feared that the private providers will use the switch to unisex tariffs for further premium adjustments, for example to compensate for the currently lower interest rates for retirement provisions .

According to a study by the analysis company Franke und Bornberg (March 2013), men have been paying up to 62 percent more for insurance coverage since the introduction of the unisex tariffs, while women have been paying up to 24 percent less. Franke und Bornberg sees not only the new unisex tariffs as the reasons for the changed contribution amount, but also improved benefits and the lowering of the discount rate .

Property insurance / car insurance

In the case of claims development for liability, household effects and residential buildings, there is no reason to differentiate the tariffs by gender. In accident insurance, the risk group (professional activity) is usually used as a tariff criterion. Women are classified in the more favorable risk group A, regardless of their occupation. Gender pay differences are also particularly rare here. In contrast, there is a clear difference in the number of young drivers involved in accidents by sex. Many insurers charge a significant surcharge for young men.

Graphic representation of unisex tariffs

Graphic explanation using the example of a pension insurance

The following graphic is intended to clarify the unisex in the old-age provision tariffs. Basically, a mixed calculation is made from women's and men's tariffs. An average is formed in which women receive a little more pension and men less pension compared to non-unisex tariffs.

Both sexes receive the same pension. Statistically speaking, women take longer than men to claim their pension. Over the entire term of the pension, women will receive more pensions than men.

literature

  • Kai Purnhagen: On the prohibition of risk differentiation based on gender - a teaching of the ECJ on the constitutionalization of private law using the example of insurance contract law? - Discussion of the judgment and the ECJ commentary - Case C-236/09, Test Achats, judgment of March 1, 2011, EuR 2011, 690

Individual evidence

  1. Martin Hammer: Unisex tariffs in pension insurance - equal or unequal treatment? 2007, ISBN 3-638-77021-4 , p. 17 ff., Limited preview in Google Book Search
  2. Eduard Picker: Liability for discrimination according to current and future law. 2005, ISBN 3-89952-199-4 , p. 169 ff., Limited preview in the Google book search
  3. Unisex tariffs - that's changing! ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: ZDF Wiso , accessed on January 30, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zdf.de
  4. Juliane Kokott: Opinion of the Advocate General at the European Court of Justice , accessed on January 29, 2013 .
  5. Federal Council blocks capping of valuation reserves on VersicherungsJournal.de, accessed on December 18, 2012.
  6. Directive 2004/113 / EC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women with regard to access to and supply of goods and services
  7. Directive 2006/54 / EC on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of work and employment
  8. Unisex tariff from 2012
  9. What you should know about the new unisex tariffs ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 20th September 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gdv.de
  10. Effects of the unisex tariffs for insurance .
  11. Unisex tariffs: study shows negative effects! ( Memento of the original from August 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. December 7, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gdv.de
  12. Unisex tariffs: Will risk provisioning be cheaper? April 25, 2012.
  13. Judgment of the European Court of Justice on the consideration of the criterion gender as a factor for the assessment of insurance risks from March 1, 2011.
  14. PKV premium adjustments in 2013 concealed by unisex tariffs? November 16, 2012.
  15. Destatis: Accidents of 18- to 24-year-olds in road traffic May 13, 2012.
  16. http://www.munich-broker.de/blog/?p=1264  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.munich-broker.de