Rehberg a longtime supporter of push to repeal unisex insurance law

Millionaire Congressman’s War on Women began two decades ago

BILLINGS, Mont. – Congressman Dennis Rehberg’s decades-old push to repeal Montana’s trailblazing “unisex insurance law,” which prevents insurance companies from charging women higher rates than men, has recently been brought back to life by five Republican candidates for governor.

Rehberg’s belief that companies should be able to charge women more for health insurance dates back to his multiple attempts to repeal Montana’s non-gender insurance law as a state representative in the 1980s.

Rehberg voted twice in 1985 to limit and repeal Montana’s first-in-the-nation non-gender insurance law. [HB 366, 1985 Women’s Lobbyist Fund News]

He followed it up by cosponsoring a repeal bill supported by insurance companies and voting multiple times to allow higher insurance rates for women than men. [3r, HB 519, 2/18/87, House Final Status; and 1987 Women’s Lobbyist Fund News]

Thanks to Jon Tester, all Americans will soon benefit from a national law, similar to Montana’s 1983 law, preventing gender-based rate discrimination.

Rehberg opposes the nationwide unisex health insurance standards and has proposed a full repeal of the policy in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“In his 30 years as a career politician, Congressman Dennis Rehberg has been the insurance industry’s top cheerleader—going so far as to support charging women more than men for health insurance,” said Montanans for Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy. “Like most Montanans, Jon Tester believes insurance companies shouldn’t set rates based only on gender.”

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