Survivors of sexual assault in US face medical bills over $3,000
2 Min Read
The healthcare system in the US aims to profit from the sufferings of its own population.
-
Uninsured sexual survivors in the US face medical bills over $3,000
Sexual violence survivors who don't have insurance are often facing medical bills that can reach far beyond $3,000 for healthcare, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Out of trauma, social stigma and fear, many sexual assault survivors do not declare or come forward about the experiences they had endured; getting charged with high health care costs can be quite "disincentivizing", according to Samuel Dickman, a co-author of the study and physician in Planned Parenthood of Montana.
According to the study, in 2019, over 112,000 sexual assault survivors set out for emergency care; however, more than 17,000 were uninsured and were slabbed with bills averaging $3,673. Pregnant victims had the highest average charges: $4,553.
See more: The American dream, burdened with medical debt
The costs of health care are undoubtedly higher now than they were before, according to a study by co-author and physician Steffie Woolhandler. "Health care costs have increased year upon year in the United States."
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) allocates full coverage of "rape kits," which collect evidence of sexual assault from survivors.
Nonetheless, the bill does not cover charges for other forms of medical care which are urgent after sexual assault, such as treatment for injuries, sexually transmitted diseases and emergency contraceptives.
The study calls on the Act to broaden and be more comprehensive, in addition to the implementation of a universal health care coverage "to ensure that costs are not a barrier to essential medical care and forensic evaluation in cases of sexual assault."
While hospitals under federal law are prohibited from billing survivors for rape kits, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, some survivors are still charged for such services.
"There's a lot of reasons people don't report rape, but the health care center system sending bills to victims of sexual assault really worsens the trauma, worsens the stigma and worsens the economic harm of a sexual assault," Woolhandler said.
