Evil Insurance Companies Are Dropping Coverage For Women Who’ve Been Raped
Posted by: Kate Torgovnick
Filed in:
news, video
11:10AM, Tuesday October 27th 2009
Last week, the Huffington Post made our blood boil when they reported on a horrifying trend—that insurance companies are denying benefits for women who’ve been raped, and even dropping their coverage altogether. How can they get away with such a thing? Because, when a woman is raped and it’s unknown whether the assailant used a condom, doctors typically prescribe a month’s worth of an anti-HIV medication (which, uh, I didn’t even know existed) as a precaution. It’s extremely rare that a woman actually contracts HIV this way, but insurance companies view this as a morbid done deal. Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for the health insurance industry’s largest trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, explains, “If you put down on a form that you are or were taking anti-HIV drugs at any time, [insurance companies] are going to understand that you are or were in treatment for HIV, period. That could be a factor in determining whether you get coverage.”
This is exactly what happened to Christina Turner, who ironically was a health insurance agent for 12 years. Even with her extensive knowledge of the system, her insurance company dropped her after she was raped. Turner first appeared in the Huffington Post story and Anderson Cooper interviewed her last night. Here is her story in a nutshell.
Christina was at a bar in Florida in 2002 when a pair of men offered to buy her a drink. Next thing she knew, she woke up on the side of the road and it was pretty clear she’d been drugged and raped. Her doc prescribed anti-HIV medication, which cost $1000 a month, and she put in for reimbursement. Her insurance company then dropped her—claiming that she hadn’t paid her latest bill, even though she says she can prove that payment was sent. The company wouldn’t cover her again because, in their minds, she had a pre-existing condition—HIV. They said she would have to show them 2 to 3 years worth of HIV-negative tests before she could get coverage again. Meanwhile, she had to pay for the medication and for the extensive counseling she needed to so much as be able to leave her house, out of pocket.
Evidently, this is not unusual. “It’s difficult enough to make sure that rape victims take the drugs,” said Diana Faugno, a forensic nurse in California. “What are we supposed to tell women now? Well, I guess you have a choice—you can risk your health insurance or you can risk AIDS. Go ahead and choose.”
The Huffington Post also uncovered equally grim stories, like one about a 38-year-old woman in New York who was raped in college. Seventeen years later, it happened again, and when she went to the hospital seeking treatment, she was informed that her insurance company would not cover the cost of the rape exam, medication, or therapy because she had been “raped before.” As if it were like catching the flu. Similarly, if you suffer post-traumatic stress disorder after a sexual assault, too bad—many companies consider this a pre-existing condition, too.
Pure. Evil. [Huffington Post]
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joyy
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:17 am: [report]
Welcome to last week’s news, Frisky staff. Why even bother posting more than just a link if you’re this far behind and have nothing to add?
That said: agreed. Pure effing evil.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:21 am: [report]
You forgot to post my domestic abuse insurance dropping link too! :(
Watin’ for the CNN video is for suckas’
MuchoMacho
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:35 am: [report]
insurance companies wont die until the government eliminates lobbying groups. foul business. if obama does nothing with his presidency but murder insurance companies, he’ll go down as the best president of all time in my mind.
equnsuocha
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:42 am: [report]
@Mucho I am actually writing a paper for my Poli Sci class on lobbying, and while the idea was great, basically gets detailed information into the hands of the policy makers quickly, in practice it has become quasi legal bribery.
@joyy many of us may not have seen this story as I try to avoid all mass media outlets if I can since I have my own agenda and that is not to buy into corporate media news agenda. So if you are going to agree, then agree, but I dont think your snarky comment was warranted.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:43 am: [report]
@MuchoMacho: Alan Grayson (D-FL) called a lobbyist quote a “A K Street Whore” yesterday. I approve this comment.
bumbler
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:52 am: [report]
Grayson is on a roll.
Kati-Anne
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 10:52 am: [report]
So would the insurance company have dropped a doctor who was accidentally stuck by a needle and went on the anti-retro-virals? I’m going to guess no….
Riley
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 11:05 am: [report]
@esqunsuocha - So by reading a story that came from CNN aren’t you buying in to this ubiquitous corporate agenda? You can always wait until another outlet recycles the story; I guess that makes it less corporate.
Besides, The Frisky is routinely days off of real news stories. Celeb gossip along with John and Kate news is up to snuff though. Snarky truth.
equnsuocha
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 11:11 am: [report]
@Riley - Any media outlet is following an agenda and I get that but CNN, Huff Post, Fox News, etc are the worst of the worst. That doesnt mean I would not listen to what this woman has to say just because it was on CNN, it simply means I dont go to CNN for my news, therefore I never would have seen this had it not been posted here, hence my reply and feeling that “snarkiness, for snarkinesses sake”(is that even a word?) is just glorified trolling. I look for “NEWS” not “AGENDA” so I look for NPR (which is taken with a large grain of salt) and the BBC, who seem to be the last real “reporters” around. I want news and data not commentary.
I could see the “way to be late” comments on a News site but our beloved Frisky is hard news second to the Lamas’, Goesslings and Octo-Moms, we all know this.
Perceptible
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 11:18 am: [report]
A few days late doesn’t make it irrelevant. It’s still interesting for discussion here on the Frisky. That said, the whole world of health insurance scares the crap out of me, whether it’s through the government, or through your job’s group plan with a private insurance company. And this story above is heart breaking. Way to add insult to injury.
Oreo
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 11:50 am: [report]
As long as the Republicans and the “Blue Dog” Democrats stand in President Obama’s way, this will keep happening, and we will remain as the only free democracy that refuses to value health as a human right.
moonblossom
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 11:54 am: [report]
Women comprise 51% of the population. It is high time we put an end to the rampant woman-hating behavior in our culture. When we put our votes where our mouths are we will see change.
resullins
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 12:15 pm: [report]
This is disgusting. I’m not going to get into a political debate here, as then no one will ever like me again… but this kind of crap has to be stopped.
Did you know that a lot of women can’t get health insurance because pregnancy is sometimes considered a ‘pre-existing condition?’
Sometimes it sucks to be a girl… but not usually!
Perceptible
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 12:26 pm: [report]
@resullins, I actually just found out myself that pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition, and health insurance companies can legally refuse you coverage for 10 months! That they can get away with that is total #&@$% and makes my blood boil! (Fortunately, I am not pregnant and was able to get health insurance, but still!) Pregnancy is a CONDITION? Then, some of the low-income NY programs actually don’t cover birth control. Um, okay. Let’s have as many low-income people as possible without access to affordable birth control. This gets me all worked up. I have to stop.
bogart4017
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 12:30 pm: [report]
Our elected officials ought to be held accountable for holding insurance companies accountable. Isnt election day coming up soon? While they are standing between you and the train to work trying to press flesh ask them what Bill is pending in ref to this subject.
MuchoMacho
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 12:34 pm: [report]
elections are coming up… but what good does replacing one corrupt POS with another?
bethlynn00
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 02:25 pm: [report]
What they are prescribing is post exposure prophylaxis, which is not an anti-HIV drug, it is a cocktail of anti-retrovirals, so you take the same medications that people living with HIV take, and like she said they are VERY expensive, and depending on what you take some insurance providers don’t cover the full cost, but basically it looks like you have HIV, because you get the same drugs to treat them so this is not just an issue for sexual assault victims, but many service providers and police, EMTs who may have been exposed to HIV and need these medications to try and stop infection. The idea is that if you can get them within 72 hours of exposure you can possibly stop the virus from attaching and replicating in your system, but the success rate is hinky, but this type of exposure only happens on about 1% of all cases. Unfortunately, it happens quite frequently that people either are not able to have this covered thru insurance, because there is very little evidence on it’s effectiveness or the insurance won;t cover the cost of the medication.
The insurance scam is so disgusting. People living with HIV/AIDS are barred from most insurance plans, unless they get under a group plan thru an employer or there is some sort of high risk plan, which then costs them an arm and a leg to pay for, like here in WI were the annual deductible is about $5200, even for low-income it’s about $1200, who can afford that? It’s crazy!
theattack
wrote on October 27 2009 @ 04:12 pm: [report]
I seriously feel like I’m going to vomit after reading/watching this. Why are survivors of sexual assault forced to additionally be assaulted by insurance companies and legal systems? Not to mention assaults from our rape culture, and even just casual language that people toss around?
Why are women still black labeled for something forced upon them? To me, this is equivalent (and maybe even worse, I’m not sure) to women losing their worth as a marriage partner after someone rapes them. If everyone is appalled by that happening so many years ago (and maybe now too, I don’t know), why are they not shocked and disgusted by this as well?
Claireific
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 10:23 am: [report]
Wait wait wait. Wait. Wait. You’ve never heard of anti-retroviral drugs? You DIDN’T KNOW THEY EXISTED? I’m sorry, but they aren’t some brand new, obscure discovery. HIV patients have been taking them for years and years to lead longer, fuller lives. I can’t #&@$% believe this.
resullins
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 10:59 am: [report]
@Claire… you got the wrong idea out of this article. Everyone knows what they are…
Read the article again.