WASHINGTON — The health- insurance industry offered Tuesday to stop charging women higher premiums, a surcharge that hits many self-employed women trying to buy their own coverage.
It was the latest concession from insurers as Congress works to overhaul the $2.5 trillion health system to expand coverage and slow rising costs.
Insurers are trying to head off creation of a government plan that would compete with them — something many Democrats favor but that the companies say would drive them out of business.
Instead, insurers are offering to submit to close government regulation, accepting a series of restrictions they contend would add up to a fairer marketplace and cut into the ranks of the 50 million uninsured.
“We are comfortable with that,” Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, told the Senate Finance Committee. She was part of a large panel that included representatives from business, labor unions, insurers and consumer groups.
Ignagni, who heads the private insurers’ trade group, told senators that the industry is ready to stop charging women more than men. Health-care costs for women tend to be higher during childbearing years.
