Resolved Question: If US has equality, why is there a gender gap in health insurance?

Gender gap discovered in health insurance: Women pay more for individual plans:http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/…

According to the article: "Insurers say they have a sound reason for charging different premiums: Women ages 19 to 55 tend to cost more than men because they typically use more health care, especially in the childbearing years.

But women still pay more than men for insurance that does not cover maternity care. In the individual market, maternity coverage may be offered as an optional benefit, or rider, for a hefty additional premium."

Whats the difference in what women vs men have to pay for health coverage? According the article above: "The disparities are evident in premiums charged by major insurers like Humana, UnitedHealth, Aetna and Anthem, a unit of WellPoint; in prices quoted by eHealth, a leading online source of health insurance; and in rate tables published by state high-risk pools, which offer coverage to people who cannot obtain private insurance.

Humana, for example, says its Portrait plan offers “ideal coverage for people who want benefits like those provided by big employers.” For a Portrait plan with a $2,500 deductible, a 30-year-old woman pays 31 percent more than a man of the same age in Denver or Chicago and 32 percent more in Tallahassee, Fla."

Recent Economic affects on women: COBRA's High Cost Bites Into Jobless Safety Net, especially for women, who have to pay more for individual health insurance: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?a…

Research Study results: Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women: http://action.nwlc.org/site/PageNavigato…

So why the gender gap in health insurance, if equality is here in the US? I keep hearing how feminism isn't needed in the US or the West, we're all supposedly equal now. What gives?

I don't have kids, never had them, and won't have them, so why do I have to pay higher health insurance rates-why don't I get the rates men do?

So does this mean, based on your answers, that we can stop hearing about gender gaps in auto insurance rates that men pay, since this gender gap in health insurance rates doesn't matter? Ok, glad I won't have to hear about that ever again.