Women in Hawaii who have health insurance through their employer are fortunate that civil rights laws bar higher premiums based on gender.

Such laws, however, do not apply when women buy individual policies, costing them hundreds of dollars a year more than men.

With insurance proposals likely to be on the agenda next year, Congress should make sure women aren't penalized for being women, which is essentially what insurance companies are doing.

A survey of data from insurance companies and online brokers showed a wide disparity between what women and men pay for the same coverage. Under some plans, women pay as much as 49 percent more than men of the same age for identical coverage.

Higher premiums are justified, insurance companies say, because women are more likely to use health care services. They go to the doctor, get regular checkups and medication and tend to have certain chronic illnesses.

Men, too, tend to develop certain chronic conditions for which drugs are prescribed. Besides, doctors and insurance companies urge people to get regular exams to avoid more expensive treatment when illnesses go unnoticed.

The problem, insurers say, is that women get pregnant, which adds up to more health care when they're younger. Women who have had children also increase their likelihood of health complications later in life, insurers say.

Yet the survey found that women still pay more than men for policies that don't even provide maternity coverage, which is offered - if at all - as an optional benefit with much higher premiums.

If financial incentives or tax credits are considered to help people get insurance, Congress has to level premium costs or women clearly will be at a disadvantage.