54

To the Rescue

opinion

Herald & Lantern 8 |une '83

Of Damsels... If# one ol those ho-hum issues - risk discrimination in the insurance industry. Sure it's boring But boy <or, girl), it's important The resolution will determine not only whether we pay more for health, life, auto and retirement insurance but also whether the government can make business judgments for the insurance industry The debate began in Arizona, when some retired women sued that state's pension plan Women who opt for the an nuity a plan providing payments to retirees for as long as they live - get smaller checks than retired men On average however thfc total paid to men and women is equal 'because women live and collec* longer Nonethe less, the women claimed unfair sex discriminatioh Well, before you could say Mycountrytisofthee. Con gress mounted its horse to ride to the rescue of damsels in distress Both houses introduced unisex pricing bills NOBODY DISPUTES the proposition that rate-setting involves sex discrimination Indeed, it's one of the cor nerstones Since the other corner is held up by age discrimination, consider the issue in those terms: Older people pay more for life insurance than younger people The higher cost reflects the risk that insurance companies are more likely to pay out sooner on policies held by older people Are insurartce companies discriminating unfairly agaiast the elderly'’ Nope Not if it's fair for fire insurance to discriminate against wooden houses Or health insurance to discriminate against smokers Discrimination balances the price of coverage against the likely costs of coverage. But doesn't that.^s the women argue, provide the op portumty to discriminate on non-business grounds 0 Nope Insurance functions to pool risk EVEHYBODY KNOWS disaster will strike, but nobody knows who will be struck So everybody pays in a small amount of money agaiast the probability he or she will be the victim. Now, insurance companies know more than that They know that risk profiles are different, among specific grdups They know that disaster is less likely to strike 20-year olds than 80-year-olds.‘ Accordingly, they know . that .they don't have to collect as much money from the former as they do from the latter Moreover, they know that the risk return estimation is known by other insurance companies If they don't offer 2ayear-olds a lower price, other companies will Thus, there is a disincentive to discriminate on grounds other than business ones. BUT LET'S SAY the government removes this dismeen tive by requiring insurance companies to slop making risk distinctions and start usiqg unisex pricing If the uniform rate were set between the low-risk rate and the high risk rate then, low risk people would pay more for the same coverage and high risk people would pay less In the Arizona case, such a rule would invite a suit by the men on the ground they were subsidizing higher retire ment benefits for women If the periodic annuity payments for both groups were equal, the women would receive a larger total sum than the men Moreover, the effective result would be to Create a cartel by which the industry could overcharge everybody That's even worse Other than inequities and pricing inefficiencies created by unisex pricing. Congress might ask what business it has telling the insurance industry how to do its business Tbe industry is. treating men and women equally both receive equal value for their payments Congress has sad died up for a false alarm — Waff Street Journal

Do you have dn opinion on this subject? Write a letter to the editor. Her.ald and Lantern. P O Box 430. Cape May Court House. N.J 0/1210

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LANTERN

- Lookin' and Listenin' -

Suffered, Survived By DOROTHY D. FREAS Listening to a local radio station, I like the phrase, the "heart of the Villas." Looking back over 150 years ago. the "heart" of this area must have pounded in fear many times. 1 During the War of 1812, the British ships, anchored in Delaware Bay, sent men ashore to raid Fishing Creek, now called the Villas, for food, preferably cattle and poultry. After scouting around, they stole enough for that "visit” and so went down to the beach, there to slaughter their booty The people who had farms and cattle in this part of the Cape made a plan to build cattle pens near our Fulling Mill Road, then only a dirt road through the woods They were able to hide most of the cattle until the British finalij' left the Bay There were, however, some folks who were not so lucky. One old lady who lived in a little house where St. Raymond's Church now stands, had her only cow and her few chickens taken from her As these provided the elderly 1 women with her basic food, she was destitute after they took all she owned. So the area then known as Fishing Creek suffered during the war times and survived as a friendly town These were the pioneers of the past, of whom We who live in the Cape may be truly proud.

Our Readers Write Disappear in Russia To The Editor: Jon B. Kerman's amusing letter "Live in Russia 0 " (May 25) about one million Americans in Russia and one million Russians here is reminiscent of Joel Chandler’s "tar baby.".stories, the Uncle Remus tale re the fox and rabbits One million Americans would disappear, never to return, but we would have a Soviet America, or an army of clones And you think it can't happen here? When the lion and the lamb lie down together. Christianity will have won Under communism, there are only lions and enslaved lambs, if any are left A S. LENHART Cape MAY Corps Appreciated To The Editor: On behalf of the member of the Sea Isle Ambulance Corps. I would like to thank all of the supporters of the recent cake sale and fund drive. The Memorial Day Weekend was very encouraging for all of us to see just how much we are appreciated by the citizens and the visitors to our fine resort Since we are a volunteer organization, we very much depen^-on the donations of the public and the weekend's response was very encouraging Carol J Fusco Secretary Stop, Or Get Four Points

Green Acres: Another Issue By DAVID F. MOORE Executive Director New Jersey Conservation Foundation It looks as though ballots in November will permit voters to approve a fifth Green Acres bond issue for New Jersey in order to continue guaranteeing everyone in this state a chance at healthful recreation, wherever they are. That bdsiness of wherever we are is important for, while Green Acres originated as a way to preserve rural open space, or open patches in more urbanized areas, it has undergone growth over the years to meet al] our needs more realistically. The previous four bond issues, dating from 196!, have totalled $540 million, together with the over $350 million in federal and local matching funds they have triggered With a large but unknown quantity of private contributions of land, it means that close to a billion dollars has been earmarked for recreation and open space preservation. More specifically, that combination of money has oeen responsible for acquiring over 170,000 acres by the state and nearly 50,000 acres by local and county governments, in over 600 separate projects. Money to develop properties for recreation has been spent on 43 state-level parkland projects and 400 similar actions by towns and counties THE DESIGN OF this proposed fifth Green Acres bond issue has been under discussion for quite awhile. Now the Kean administration is proposing a $155 million bond issue. Of that sum, $62 million would be for open space acquisition and development by the state and the remainirg $93 million would go into something new: a low-mlerest revolving loan fund for local open space acquisition and development. BEING AN ALERT reader, you're asking why e town should reach out for money which it will have to pay back when grants have been forthcoming smee 1961. Won’t that subdue a town's desire to set aside more recref tional space? Not necessarily, thanks to some handy mathematics. The 2 percent, 20-year loans now envisioned by th i state stand up pretty well f'eside the present grant program if a local government has to borrow at market fates the 50 percent matching cost needed under the existing program. With a hypothetical $l-million project, a local government would borrow that amount at 2 percent over 20 years and have to pay back $1.21 million. But under the current program, the local government would get a $500,000 grant and then borrow a like amount at, say, 10 percent interest on a 20-year term. By the time it paid interest and principal on the half million, the project would have coot $1.16 million. THREE CATEGORIES of loans are seen at this time. The first would earmark $47 million for 100 percent loans to local governments for acquisition or development projects The second, with $2.i million from the proposed fund and $12.5 million from existing Green Acres money would help urban projects or those meeting multiple environmental objectives. A stream corridor project would be an example Assistance here could be a 75 percent loan and a 25 percent grant. The third category, with the same ratio of funding as the second, would stimulate donations by offering 25 percent loans and 25 percent grants where 50 percent can be donated from private sources.

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On Sex, Migraine, Desserts

By JOE ZELNIK Potpourri, or, I went to the beach when I should have been writing a crisp column with continuity: Many of you have been complaining that there's not enough sex in this newspaper. Just check the piece in our magazine this week about the fiddler crab, to whom the most important thing in life is mating. Wait'll you see how the male attracts the female, how he entices her, how he coaxes her ... (The fiddler seems to have the same technique as a couple piano players I know.) Here are some things you wouldn't know because you don't get the mail I do: New Jersey briefs: Gov. Kean has proclaimed June "the month of the horse.” (And Reader's Digest says the disease of the month is "goggles migraine," which comes from wearing the band of your swimming goggles too tight. (Not me — I don' 1 vant to sec what's sharing the ocean with me. > It's against the law in this state to pass a frozen dessert truck without coming to a full stop and yielding right-of-way to pedestrians. Penalty: up to $100 and four points You didn't know the ice cream lobby was that powerful, did you? The New Jersey.Podiatry Society warns that obese peo pie are more apt to suffer from foot problems like degenerative arthritis, ingrown toe nails, athlete’s fool, corns and calluses Its news release concludes. I swear to God. by advising these people to reduce and by suggesting they start by doing more WALKING!

Bargains: Mow'd you like to save $13,000° Just buy a DiLorean car. now marked down from $34,000 to $21,000. Call 614 224-1297, and tell ’em Joe sent you. And to go with it, Amoco offers personalized car mats with your name "molded in." You can have a couple names on one mat if you like. Like Bill and Tony Or you can have individual names, like Fred on one and Joyce on the other, or Herald and Lantern. Price, only $29 95. Vegetables: The New Jersey Secretary of AgricuKure has warned state farmers not to grow artichokes Some sharpies are trying to exaggerate the demand for this species of sunflower in order to sell seeds. Arthur Brown says the 1,000acres already planted will satisfy the nation'? needs. A company in Boston is marketing a new tom ito that doesn't have to be refrigerated because cooling causes pale color, flat flavor and mealy texture. Their trade name is "TomAHtoes." PharmTech Research of San Francisco has produced a tablet called “Daily Greens" (not to be confused with "black beauties" or nightly "reds '), a convenien. way to get the vegetables and vitamins you need. The "Daily Greens" people pick fresh a whole lunch of vegetables you probably wouldn * want to eat anyway: brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach. They're airdried, dehydrated without cooking, mixed with a batch of vitamins, pressed into tablets, covered with a protective vegetable coating and. voila. good nutrition. PharmTech’s literature says one bottle of the tablets has over 12 servings of cabbage. Can you imagine eating 12 servings of cabbage 0 Do you know what that coaid do to your marriage?