No. 07-00-93/2016-02   Date: 10 June 2016

OPINION

The present opinion was issued following a complaint procedure lodged upon the complaint filed by M.J. from B., against U. non-life insurance B. In her complaint the complainant stated that the annual amount of the voluntary health insurance premium “V.” for women in U. insurance was 276.84 euros, while the annual insurance premium for men was 168.72 euros, despite same personal characteristics (individuals in good health, 26-30 years of age). In their declaration responding to allegations contained in the complaint, U. insurance stated, among other things, that the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination have not been violated in this particular case and that the Republic of Serbia had no regulations closely governing gender criteria when determining the insurance tariff, hence insurance premium rates were determined in accordance with industry rules, and not on the basis of statistical data on the collected premium and received claims for damages in previous reporting periods. In the course of the complaint procedure, it has been ascertained that the monthly insurance premium for men was EUR 14.06, and for women EUR 23.07, namely, the annual insurance premium “for men” was EUR 152 while annual insurance premium “for women” was EUR 250. By making the difference in the monthly and annual premiums for voluntary health insurance for men and women of the same age, U. insurance has directly discriminated against women as it obliges them to pay a higher amount of voluntary health insurance premium “V.” for the reasons of their personal characteristic (gender). In addition, having analyzed the table of insurance coverage (basic and supplementary), which actually represent medical services to which the beneficiary of insurance coverage is entitled, it has been established that these services were not in any way different for men and women, that is, by paying voluntary health insurance premium “V”, women are not entitled to any additional medical services when compared to men, which could possibly justify the fact that they have a higher insurance premium. Therefore, U. non-life insurance B. was issued a recommendation to harmonize its company’s rules on voluntary health insurance by setting the equal amount of insurance premiums for men and women and to refrain in the future from violating anti-discrimination regulations when performing its work and activities within its scope of business activity.