Sans Seraph

Tag: insurance

  • The equality is in another castle

    This is an update to the story originally posted here.

    Almost two months to the day, and I have received word back from the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner, and, unfortunately, I have bad (but not terrible) news.

    My request to have WAC 284-30-572 updated to have gender included as a factor that cannot be used for setting rates for insurance in the state of Washington has been denied.

    Now, I never assumed this would be easy. I expected to be denied right off the bat. I am, however, surprised at the reason I was denied.

    According to their response, the OIC actually does not have the authority to update the rule because it would be in conflict with an actual Washington state law. Specifically RCW 48.30.300, which allows insurers to “use sex (as the term appears in statute) as a rating factor for personal home and auto coverage when “bona fide statistical differences in risk or exposure have been substantiated.”” (The fact that women are, apparently, statistically higher risk is probably the topic of another article.)

    Since changing the insurance law would conflict with the state law, the OIC is at an impasse. They simply don’t have the authority. Hope isn’t lost though. In addition to urging me to contact my congress critters, the OIC’s Policy and Rules Manager, Joyce Brake, informed me of a current study being conducted by the OIC to, among other things, determine the impact of “rate factors that may have disparate impacts on Washington residents,” of which gender is a factor.

    The report is due to the state legislation in November 2026. The wheels of bureaucracy move slowly. That’s not to say that our hands are tied, however. If anyone wishes to voice their opinions to their state legislators, you can find out who they are by going here.

    There is still a lot of work to be done, but I wanted to thank everyone at the OIC that has honestly been a joy to work with. They have been very forthcoming with all information I have asked for, and genuinely seem to want to help. They are a great example of what a government agency should be, and though I am disappointed that the issue wasn’t so easy to resolve, I greatly appreciate that they’ve been willing to point me in the right direction in regard to actually trying to change things.

    That’s it for now. Please, if you care about gender equality at all, write to your senators and representatives. Things really can change. There are people in the government that do truly want to help.

    The full text of Joyce Brake’s response can be found here:

    WAC 284-30-572 Rule Petition ResponseDownload

  • To arms

    I’m going to war, and not in anyway I imagined I would.

    Surely, with all of the other issues that we are facing currently in this country, something as simple as gender-based discrimination in auto insurance wouldn’t be so vile as to beckon the full fury of my tenacity and wit.

    Yet here we are.

    The saga unfolds as thus: on 3/1/25 I noticed my auto insurance payment had been processed. I realize that my deadname is still on the account, so I proceed to change it. Afterall, I don’t want there to be some insurance SNAFU where I have mismatching documents.

    My insurance company makes it very easy to change my name. I just update the driver information. Everything is right there, even gender. So a few clicks, “Traea McGrady, female” and it’s all set to go, and hey, my premiums will even increase by $45.19.

    There’s something about that last part that doesn’t sit with me and it shouldn’t with you. I don’t like to jump to conclusions though. So I try the same process again, this time just changing my name and leaving my gender as male. This time my premiums do not increase at all. From this cursory reconnoitering I seem to have come back with the information that if you identify as female, you are charged more for auto insurance, full stop.

    Of course everyone knows about the “pink tax.” Everyone knows that we live in a patriarchal society, but here was damnable evidence that women are being treated differently just because they are women, and while I was extremely flattered and affirmed in my gender for being included in this, it still doesn’t make it right. Afterall, not but seconds before submitting my information with an updated gender, according to my insurance company, I was not any more at risk, and thus did not need to suffer an increase in my premium.

    Calling my insurance company got me nowhere but more confirmation that, yes, by identifying as female, my rates would go up. I do have to say that my insurance company was very helpful and the people I spoke to on the phone did try to find me any other discount that would reduce my rates. None was found.

    It was at this point I realized I had a choice to make. I could let this go. I probably should have, looking back, but I love a good fight, especially one with words as the weapon of choice. Not only was this blatantly misogynistic, but also felt punitively transphobic. At the behest of one of my friends, I filed a complaint with the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner. The conversation that unfolded can be seen here, in reverse chronological order:

    The summary of the above is this: gender is a factor in insurance underwriting in the state of Washington. There are also rules in place that make it so that special cases cannot be accounted for outside of the bounds of the official rate plan. These rules are part of the Washington insurance law.

    The biggest take away from the above though, and much thanks to the transparency and service by Michael Harman, the Compliance Analyst from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, is that there is something that I, as a lowly citizen, can do about it. Following the link he provided me has yielded a form which I can use to start the process of revising the law that says the gender can be a basis for underwriting of insurance in the State of Washington.

    It isn’t the hill I saw myself dying on, but the longer I sit here, in the moist grass, sun on my face, dodging in and out of the Seattle gloom, I think this is a fine place to get low.

    Stay Tuned.