Victimized Again: Rape Survivors Struggle to Buy Health Insurance

health insurance, women's health insurance, healthcare reform, pre-existing conditions

Many people know that having pre-existing conditions can prevent them from buying individual health insurance. It’s perfectly understandable that insurance companies don’t want to underwrite policies for people who only decide to become insured after becoming sick. But do you think being a rape victim should allow insurers to deny you coverage? Chris Turner, an insurance agent herself, went undercover for the National Women’s Law Center (a group supporting healthcare reform) after she was raped and later needed to buy health insurance on the open market.

Since she knew that being rejected for one health insurance policy stays on your record and makes other insurers unwilling to cover you, Turner used a hypothetical example instead of applying herself. All of the private Florida health insurance companies denied coverage to this person, because she had previously–under her old insurance–sought counseling and received anti-HIV medications as a precaution (since she was unsure if the assailant had used protection). In her words, she was penalized for being proactive and getting help for her trauma. In order to be eligible for health coverage, she would have to have been out of therapy for at least one year, as well as test negative for HIV for two to three years!

The state of Florida does have an insurance pool for high risk individuals, but the crushing cost prevented Turner from taking part. In a bitterly ironic twist, she continued to work as a health insurance agent while paying for all of her medical and mental health costs out-of-pocket; this only ended when she married a man whose employer offered family health insurance coverage. Now, Chris Turner is speaking out about her ordeal in an attempt to convince them to support health care reform.

(Image: goldsardine under CC 2.0)