- A typical 40-year old Ohio woman buying an individual policy pays anywhere from 20 to 50% more than a 40-year old male.
- 60% of insurance plans sold in Ohio charge non-smoking women higher premiums than male smokers.
- Gender rating mark-ups vary widely between plans calling into question the actuarial justification for rate increases for women.
- In addition to driving up costs for individual policy-holders, gender ratings increase group insurance costs for many small businesses, particularly those employing large numbers of women.
- 14 states have banned or limited gender rating in the individual insurance market, while 17 have done so for the group insurance market.
Ohio conservatives cross streams on welfare drug testing
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From the Ohio Constitution, Section 1.21 – Preservation of the freedom to choose health care and health care coverage No federal, state, or local law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system “Health care system” means any public or private entity or program whose function or purpose includes the management of, processing of, enrollment of individuals for, or payment for, in full or in part, health care services, health care data, or health care information for its participants.Clearly, state and local agencies cannot set up a system that mandates (or, in the language of Issue 3, “compels”) the collection and sharing of health care data—in this case, drug test results. Unfortunately, Issue 3 passed in November and became the law of the land. Now, it could prove to thwart one of the right’s favorite new bad ideas. If the drug testing requirement is thrown out as unconstitutional, we certainly won’t be shedding any tears. We also won’t be surprised, since we wrote about this type of outcome in our report: “Bad Medicine: Unintended Consequences of Issue 3.”
Anti-women bills on the fast track in Ohio Legislature
Join us for women’s lobby day
Next Tuesday, Innovation Ohio will be part of a great event in Columbus to highlight legislation important to women.
Lobby Day is your opportunity to hear from elected officials about important legislation that will benefit women and meet with your representatives to urge them to take action and enact these much-needed changes to Ohio’s laws.
2nd Annual Women’s Lobby Day Tuesday, May 15, 2012 Registration @ 8:30am | Welcome @ 9am At Progress Ohio, 172 E. State Street • 6th Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215 Questions or to RSVP, E-Mail: OhioWomensLobbyDay@gmail.com
Download a complete agenda and RSVP to attend on Tuesday!
Ohio Fracking Review: April 2012
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued 28 permits for natural gas drilling in April, down from 37 in March. Chesapeake Energy once again lead the pack with 15 new permits approved, bringing the Oklahoma-based company’s portfolio to 148. The total number of fracking permits stands at 220, with more than half (111) approved in 2012 alone.
Governor Kasich’s mid-biennium review on energy, Senate Bill 315, had its first hearings in the Senate this past month. Testifying before the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee on April 24, a representative for the Ohio Environmental Council raised concerns about ground water quality testing and chemical disclosure related to the fracking procedure, which currently would only be required after drilling has begun. “”After the fact, chemical disclosure is meaningless for communities and citizens who are trying to protect their drinking water.” Innovation Ohio recommended in its February fracking report that drillers be required to submit disclosures and water testing prior to stimulation of the well .
Ohio Oil and Gas Association Executive Vice President testified on April 25 that disclosure requirements would be too burdensome on companies, requiring them to disclose unrelated materials such as paint. He also said that groundwater testing standards were unreasonable and that other measures in the bill would prove onerous for business.
On April 18, the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on HB 345, a proposed moratorium on horizontal hydraulic facturing. Proponents cited the health hazards related to fracking chemicals, and urged legislators to wait for a U.S. EPA groundwater study before allowing fracking to continue. Legislators also debated proposals for a wastewater disposal moratorium (HB 418), a ban on drilling under Lake Erie (HB 304), and a requirement that drilling companies capture all of the methane that escapes from their wells (HB 464).
On April 9, the Ohio chapter of the Sierra Club sued the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to obtain data regarding a new program that would allow natural gas drilling in state parks. The lawsuit came after five months of silence on a public records request for the Oil and Gas Leasing Commission, created last year by HB 133 to oversee drilling in state parks. Four days after filing the lawsuit, ODNR released documents detailing the proposed fracking rules, including requirements that wells be at least 300 feet from campgrounds and waterways
Documents and emails released on April 23 detailed the evolution of these proposed rules, revealing that state regulators had been communicating with oil companies as the regulations were being written. Documents revealed that the 300 foot buffer zone was a retreat from the original proposal of 1,500 feet.
On the national level, the EPA released new clean-air standards for fracking, aiming to reduce 95% of smog-causing pollutants, as well as carcinogenic chemicals and greenhouse gases. The agency estimates that industry will be more than able to recover the costs of meeting these new standards by capturing and selling methane emissions. Bowing to industry concerns about the availability of the necessary equipment and training, the agency delayed implementation until 2015.
Welcome to Ohio Women’s Watch
Toledo Blade editorial cites IO, calls on legislators to protect women’s health
The advocacy group Innovation Ohio says the proposed GOP budget measure would “bar Planned Parenthood from receiving funds for … breast and cervical cancer screening, the Violence Against Women Act, infertility prevention, and minority HIV/AIDS programs.”They conclude:
Planned Parenthood is part of the solution on issues of women’s health, helping to reduce the number of abortions. The proposed legislation, which a Republican lawmaker calls “fair and balanced,” is part of the women’s health problem. If Ohio’s Republican lawmakers can’t be part of the solution, they should at least stay out of the way.
Testimony on House proposal to de-fund Planned Parenthood
House Dems move to fund schools & local governments while GOP balks at taxing oil companies
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