| Abstract: | The Equal Treatment Directive, which will come into force on 21 December 2007, aims to outlaw'discrimination' between men and women in the calculation of insurance premiums, is founded upon a fallacious understanding of the nature of actuarial calculations and the morality of'discriminatory' calculations where state provision of insurance has traditionally been 'non-discriminatory'. The Equal Treatment Directive will have perverse consequences contrary to the aims of its creators - benefiting the better-off at the expense of the poor and, in some circumstances, men at the expense of women - and will also threaten the private provision of pensions and healthcare essential to solving the looming pensions and healthcare funding crisis among EU member states. |
