In Ohio, unfair discrimination in life insurance occurs when an insurer discriminates in rates, dividends, benefits, or terms between individuals of the same class and which additional shared characteristic?

Why A is correct

ORC 3901.21 prohibits a life insurer from making or permitting any unfair discrimination between individuals of the same class and equal expectation of life in the rates, dividends, benefits, or terms of life insurance. Two applicants who present the same life expectancy must be treated alike; pricing them differently without a genuine difference in expectation of life is the unfair practice.

Why the other options are wrong

• B) Birth year is not the statutory standard; the test is equal expectation of life, which mortality-based underwriting measures rather than age alone.
• C) Occupation can be a legitimate rating factor reflecting real risk differences; it is not the class standard the statute uses.
• D) Premium payment mode is a payment convenience chosen by the policyholder, not the protected-class comparison the statute describes.

Memory hook

Same class, same life expectancy: price them alike.