Dear Senators Burr and Hagan,
I'm sure that you've each received hundreds, maybe even thousands, of calls, letters and e-mails concerning the health insurance reform debate. Here's one I'll bet you haven't heard before:
On September 3, 2007, I started my dream job. Switching jobs meant a short lag in my health insurance coverage, as my new employer's plan didn't kick in until I'd been on staff for 30 days.
On October 7, I was raped while on vacation. As I'm sure you're both aware, in order to file criminal charges for a rape one has to complete a "rape kit" to collect evidence. You can't get a rape kit in your family doctor's office, and you can't collect this evidence yourself and turn it over to the police. The exam must be conducted by a trained sexual assault response (SART) nurse in a hospital emergency room.
North Carolina did reform the way these forensic exams were funded in 2008. But this practice varies from state to state, so many other crime victims still go through what I went through.
By Monday, Oct. 8, I hadn't received my insurance plan membership card. So, on top of the physical and emotional trauma associated with being the victim of a violent crime, I had the added stress of wondering whether I'd even be able to report the crime to authorities. There was no way I could've afforded ER fees out-of-pocket.
Fortunately, I was able to get my membership and plan information over the phone from my provider. I wrote it all down on a Post-it Note, which I still carry in my wallet as a reminder. This allowed me to visit the ER at Forsyth Hospital, make sure I wasn't seriously injured, obtain emergency contraception and STD testing, and provide the evidence to prosecute my case. All for a $150 co-pay.
I've since spoken with other sexual assault survivors, and it's astonishing to hear how often this comes up. Putting aside all of the other hurdles that come along with reporting a sexual assault, there are crime victims who never even get to begin the process of seeking justice because they lack adequate insurance. This isn't just a health issue; it's a criminal justice issue. Maybe our country is complacent when it comes to the idea that health is a privilege for the well-off, but justice should not be.
It's not enough to say that you support the general concept of insurance reform. I'm disappointed to say that I have yet to see either of you take a role in making that reform happen.
I'm writing to you today to make you aware of a dimension to our flawed private insurance system that you may not have heard about before. If the other "horror stories" you've no doubt heard so far haven't been sufficient to move you to fight for real reform - including a competitive public option - then perhaps the plight of thousands of crime victims in our country will be.
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Thank you for sharing this. I live in Canada, so when I went to see a SART nurse everything was covered. I can't imagine having to have even paid a co-pay in order to get that taken care of. I was just off a 6 month bout of unemployment, and even that much money would have thrown off my within-an-inch-of-my-life budget for months and months. I'd never even thought about the implications of needing health care coverage to prosecute criminals.
I hope someone reads this and it clicks that the system in the US is BROKEN.
No private enterprise is going to ever put people's health above their bottom line if they can help it. And that's seriously screwed up.
But since you're from Canada you had to wait 4 years to get your rape kit done, right?
All kidding aside, the SART nurse was at the emergency room less than 15 minutes after my arrival.
My tonsillectomy... well, that took a year.
Thank you for sharing your story (and your letter) with us!
For what other crimes does the victim have to pay for the investigation?!?! I agree that this is about health care and it's about criminal justice... but it's also just about a genuine lack of understanding among law makers that rape is a serious issue, and that making women pay (or even contribute in the form of a "co-pay") for a rape kit is part of a system of violence against women and victim blaming.
You know, this connection between rape kits and health insurance and the justice system never even occurred to me. Thank you for your story, and I will continue to become more informed of the giant amount of batshit heaped on women who simply wish to press charges for a violent crime.
On another note, what Lily A said! Fuck our victim-blaming court system where a rape trial is mostly about proving the rape even happened, not getting justice for the victim. I contend that most men don't believe, or at least don't want to believe, that rape is as big a problem as it is, and until they do, the fucking justice system won't listen. Because women lie all the time, duh! And, (my personal favorite) it's only rape if men say it is!
Well, I just got a form e-mail response from Senator Hagan; nothing yet from Senator Burr. I'll keep y'all posted if I get an *actual* response. ;)
Thank you so much for posting this. The cost of a rape kit is one of the reasons that I did not report my rape when it occurred. That is something that definitely needs to be covered in any health care reform legislation. Women in this country do not need to think about this. We shouldn't have to deal with being raped to begin with but because we are things like this need to be completely covered and widely available. And why can't doctors offices have rape nurses on staff? Why are rape survivors forced to go to the hospital (which is a very scary place for most people anyways) to have this done?
I thought hospitals were required by law to treat everybody, insured or not? Is it different in NC?
I've been to the ER a couple times while uninsured, and while I got a big bill later, I didn't have to pay anything upfront. This is in Pennsylvania.