Rape Is a 'Pre-Existing Condition'

[LazyLion]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/21/insurance-companies-rape-_n_328708.html
http://www.momlogic.com/2009/10/health_insurance_rape_is_a_pre-existing_condition.php

Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions when her doctor prescribed a month's worth of anti-AIDS medicine.

Only later did she learn that she had made herself all but uninsurable.

Turner had let the men buy her drinks at a bar in Fort Lauderdale. The next thing she knew, she said, she was lying on a roadside with cuts and bruises that indicated she had been raped. She never developed an HIV infection. But months later, when she lost her health insurance and sought new coverage, she ran into a problem.

Turner, 45, who used to be a health insurance underwriter herself, said the insurance companies examined her health records. Even after she explained the assault, the insurers would not sell her a policy because the HIV medication raised too many health questions. They told her they might reconsider in three or more years if she could prove that she was still AIDS-free.

Stories of how victims of sexual assault can get tangled in the health insurance system have been one result of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund's citizen journalism project, which is calling on readers to provide information and anecdotes about the inner workings of the insurance industry. The project aims to uncover details and data that can inform the larger debate over how to fix the nation's health care system. As the Investigative Fund reported in September, health insurance companies are not required to make public their records on how often claims are denied and for what reasons.

Some women have contacted the Investigative Fund to say they were deemed ineligible for health insurance because they had a pre-existing condition as a result of a rape, such as post traumatic stress disorder or a sexually transmitted disease. Other patients and therapists wrote in with allegations that insurers are routinely denying long-term mental health care to women who have been sexually assaulted.
.... (Article Continues)

Wow... now you have one good reason why it is better to be on a Medical Aid in South Africa. They have to accept you even if you are HIV positive.

 

[veniqe]

Only until they, too, decide to treat rape as a pre-existing condition. Or wait, a question: who/what forces medical aid companies to accept people who have HIV?

 

[LazyLion]

Only until they, too, decide to treat rape as a pre-existing condition. Or wait, a question: who/what forces medical aid companies to accept people who have HIV?

The government forced them by legislation about five years back.

 

[Shayd]

The Law, no company may reject any person irrelevant of age or health status. They may put a 1 year exclusion on any pre-existing condition though.

 

[Moron noodle]

Wow... now you have one good reason why it is better to be on a Medical Aid in South Africa. They have to accept you even if you are HIV positive.

Which is one of the reasons medical aid is so expensive in this country. I'm not debating the merits of this policy. Just pointing out that the cost is simply passed on to those without Aids.

 

[Alan]

How did she lose her health insurance in the first place?

 

[zippy]

This is what you get with private insurance. They are in it for the money. They dont give a toss about your health. If you want privatised healthcare, pray that you dont get ill more than once. The second time, you are on your own.

 

[WilD_CaT]

This is what you get with private insurance. They are in it for the money. They dont give a toss about your health. If you want privatised healthcare, pray that you dont get ill more than once. The second time, you are on your own.

You have no understanding of economics my friend. None. What. So. Ever.

No one is obligated to insure you (Basically pay for the crap in the "**** happens" phrase). No one is obligated to give you anything. So when they do, and they want something in return, don't complain. Rather go without them. See if your life is better. If your life is not better by yourself, and its better with insurance, they they are ADDING value to your life.

Second, your health is your business and not anyone else's. Its not up to anyone else to "give a toss" about your life. Its your life not ours, we are not obligated to care, and if we don't it isn't immoral either. I don't have to like or care for everyone.

As for whether healthcare should go more free-market (Privatised) or more socialist, a.k.a. NHS etc. let me give you something to consider.

Take telecommunications industry and Telkom. What they offer is mainly a service (Communication) that requires various instruments and physical devices. We all know for a fact that opening up the market has driven down costs drastically and offered more varied and improved services.

So its been made more affordable, its of a better quality than it ever has been and it is becoming more accessible to more and more people. We are in agreement, free-market rocks!

Healthcare is also another indsutry. Its is also a service industry that uses various instruments and devices to provide for a service.

So why don't the same things that affect the quality and cost of telecommunications affect healthcare. Why don't the same laws of economics apply? I mean even if it becomes for "free" (Pay through taxes) the same laws apply. It will result in a poorer standard of healthcare, more corruption and the costs (Born by government transferred to taxpayer) will increase the whole time.

How is that better?