dr_who@umcp-cs.UUCP (07/18/83)
From: garret@uw-june
Once one agrees that it is okay to differentiate on the basis of sex,
using the rationalle that one is not *discrimenating* because
statistics rather than feelings are guiding the decissions, where does
one draw the line?
One doesn't. One lets insurance companies use all the statistics available
to them to charge people according to expected cost to the company. Think
what would happen, for example, if auto insurers started charging middle-aged
women the same as young men. The low-risk women would not be able to obtain
reasonably priced insurance, and would under-insure themselves. More
high-risk young men would buy cars and drive, now deciding that it was worth
the insurance cost. The results would be uneconomic, it seems to me.
I suggest that discrimination based on feelings (biases) might be dealt with
by requiring insurance companies to show, "by a preponderance of evidence" or
some such rule, that their discriminations are based on statistics rather
than prejudice. I still don't see why statistical discrimination is wrong.
--Paul Torek, U of MD College Park