American women who have been raped or sexually assaulted pay almost $1,000 (£780) in medical bills after reporting the crime to authorities, a new study has found.
Insurance providers paid over $9m (£7m) for sexual assault related medical services in 2013. The average amount spent on treatment for each victim was $6,735 (£5,235).
Of this figure, survivors paid an average of $950 (£741) or 14 per cent towards the cost of that treatment, while insurance providers paid the remaining $5,789 (£4,517), researchers found.
The findings were published in the American Journal of Public Health.
When Congress authorised the Violence Against Women Act in 2005, provisions were added to ensure that survivors of assault could not be charged for medical examinations, sometimes called rape kits, whether or not the assault is reported to the police.
However, survivors often need treatment for related medical issues, which are not covered by the legislation.
“With other violent crimes, victims are not responsible for paying for the damage that results from the crime,” said lead author Ashley Tennessee, of the Medical University of South Carolina. “Many people know sexual assault is an issue, but they’re often unaware that victims have to pay for associated medical charges.”
She added: “This financial burden adds to the emotional burden of sexual assault. This is an area that society has missed, and we have a moral right to help victims.”
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Ms Tennessee and colleagues looked at hospital billing records for privately insured women in the US who were victims of rape in 2013. T
Overall, about 88 percent of the 1,355 victims incurred charges on the day they visited the hospital, and 27 per cent paid more than 25 per cent of those costs. About seven per cent paid more than 50 percent of the cost. After visiting the hospital, about 63 per cent of the patients incurred more charges up to a month after the incident, including prescriptions, further medical care and mental health services.
Last year, one American woman was forced to crowdfund medical fees incurred after she was raped.
"I was attacked over a year ago and today I got a hospital bill for my emergency room visit," she wrote on her GoFundMe page. "I'm not financially able to afford the bill. I would really appreciate any help I could get."
sammydeusoart__ on April 23rd, 2017 at 07:25 UTC »
I've actually been dealing with this issue for about a year now. In the state I was assaulted in I was told the there was a program intact that actually pays for all the medical and damage costs and I was so relieved. Being a college student it would be very difficult for me to pay the $1300+
However, turns out it wasn't so easy. It all has to be done through the mail and they needed endless amounts of paper work and receipts- so every time I sent something in I would receive a letter a few weeks later asking for something else. Then I graduated and my address changed and it became too difficult and it was extremely upsetting every time I would get something in the mail...thinking about the whole thing all over again. Finally I just gave up and I still have all these medical bills fucking up my credit score because somehow that's easier to deal with than the actual process of getting it taken care of through the state.
positiveandupwards on April 23rd, 2017 at 03:24 UTC »
To prosecute my rapist, who was found not guilty this week, I paid about $1500. Not including the medical costs, where I needed a kit, shots, pills, and blood draws to make sure I didn't have any STDs.
wash-ington on April 23rd, 2017 at 01:45 UTC »
My sister went through this just two weeks ago. She said even being in the hospital is traumatizing because you are in there alone and the events just play over and over in your head and it takes almost all day to get everything tested. At the end she recived her bill ~1k.
It just makes it seem like it was your fault that you got raped which is pretty fucked up.
Edit: I just want to add that the hospital bill was ~1k, but the meds she was prescribed were $800 total with a $400 copay. And this doesn't include the therapy. It is truly sickening the cost of being a victim.