rape as a pre-existing condition

[rm]

Do I need to say this is about to be triggery as hell?

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

Scenario 1: Woman is raped. Almost two decades go by. She is raped again. When she tries to get coverage for health services related to the rape, her claims are denied because her first rape made her second rape a pre-existing condition.

Scenario 2: Woman is raped. Woman takes HIV drugs as a precautionary measure. Woman is now uninsurable in most cases. If she is able to get or maintain insurance she most likely would not be covered should she contract AIDS or any STD in the future.

Just so we're clear, these scenarios (which have really happened to non-hypothetical, non-fictitious women) are more than barbaric. They both brand women as responsible for their rapes and therefore not entitled to care related to their sexual and emotional selves -- that's only for insurance-defined "good girls" apparently.

Pissed off yet? Well, wait, because there's more, because a host of other scenarios like this are out there (check out the comments to this post, which include "domestic violence as a pre-existing condition" and a woman who was inseminated so she could have kids with her female partner being denied health insurance on the grounds of the infertility she didn't have), and if they haven't happened yet, they probably will soon.

Here's the deal about health insurance and being female: Being female is effectively considered a disease by insurers, despite the fact that women have much longer life expectancies than men. Women are also dealt with as children who are incapable of making informed decisions about their own bodies; whether it's birth control, abortion or pregnancy-related services, insurers will tell you over and over again that they know better than you or your doctor.

Choosing to have an abortion? May not be covered if it's not "medically necessary" and what's "medically necessary" isn't decided by you or your doctor, but by your insurance company. If mental health is a factor, forget about it (I've seen this one in action repeatedly). My abortion was part of the RU486 trial, and I still had to pay $400 for it (about ten years ago); it was not covered by insurance.

Want birth control? It'll probably cost you more than Viagra or similar medications on many insurance plans. A man has a right to fuck, but a woman doesn't have the same right to not get pregnant, apparently. (Once again, see comments -- this may or may not now actually be less fucked than I remember it being; it's been a long time since I was on oral birth control and I know regulations on insurance companies regarding this has changed since that time -- people's experiences with this seem to vary, but there's still definitely a problem on at least some plans or in some regions).

Have you decided to be child-free? Well, that's nice, but chances are there's no way for you to decline coverage for pregnancy related services (even if you've had your tubes tied), because as a woman, you apparently don't really know what you want and are likely to change your mind (and hey, you might get raped!). And if you want a medical procedure to ensure your child-free status? As one commenter notes, good luck. Odds are your insurance plan will cover a vasectomy, but as a woman? Sorry, no procedures for you! Why? Well, you could change your mind.

Having a baby? Well, if you've had a c-section before, your insurance company is going to tell you, you have to have one again, even if you and your doctor are comfortable with you trying for a VBAC. That is if they don't, as noted in the comments, just quit insuring you altogether.

Need a mammogram before age 40 because of a family history of breast cancer? Well, most insurers will make you wait even if breast cancer killed one of your relatives at age 39. Maybe, if you're really lucky, you'll figure out how to get seen at a free-screening clinic in a low-income neighborhood -- if it exists, if you're eligible, and if doing that won't cause anything breast health related to be termed a pre-existing condition and be not covered by your insurance forever more. That's right, if you have a family history of breast cancer, you may not be able to afford to have the screenings that could save your life -- even if you are insured!

The bias in all this is exhausting, but so is the lip-service paid to women's equality by executives and politicians who think this is all just fine. Fuck you. Come out and say it. We're children and chattel to you. And if we're very good and beg hard enough and don't get raped, maybe, just maybe you'll insure us and then we can be worth some cash too.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Despite all the flaws in our system, I still love our public HMO's which cannot deny anyone basic coverage - the cost may be different - but everyone is covered.
I recently upgraded my public health care insurances and they kept asking me whether I was going to have children in the future! Why? Because under this coverage they provide eggs if I happen to be infertile or something - yeah, fertility treatments in covered and provided by our public HMO's.
Chemical birth control... you guessed it, still have to pay full price with the script.
I just read that the ministry of health in my country was going to add Viagra to the Medicine Basket (a bunch of medicines that are sold at a reduced price... does not include various cancer treatments, of course), which I find symptomatic as hell when it comes to what health actually is.

But America is batshit when it comes to health, care and insurance. WTF!!!!

[sethg]

Well, the State of Israel was founded by...

/me looks around nervously to make sure no Republicans overhear

...SOCIALISTS!

[botia.livejournal.com]

Here's the deal about health insurance and being female: Being female is effectively considered a disease by insurers, despite the fact that women have much longer life expectancies than men. Women are also dealt with as children who are incapable of making informed decisions about their own bodies; whether it's birth control, abortion or pregnancy-related services, insurers will tell you over and over again that they know better than you or your doctor.

Evernoted (http://www.evernote.com/pub/botia/botiasnotebook) and muchly applauded.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks. And Evernote is cool! I hadn't seen it before.

[botia.livejournal.com]

It's my new favorite thing! I've been wanting something exactly like it for ages!

[oncomingscone.livejournal.com]

I'm flabbergasted. I can't believe that this can happen. I grew up with the NHS and now I'm in the US I'm in perpetual shock at the health 'system'. How anyone can be against a healthcare reform when this shit is going down just doesn't make sense to me.

Rape as a pre-existing condition. That has to be one of the most inhumane and fucked up things I have encountered.

Bill Of Rights - HELLO? ANYBODY HOME??

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here.

There may be many things to recommend the US about. Its health care provisions? Not one of them.

[rm.livejournal.com]

What's very strange, I think, for a lot of people who were born in the US, is hearing other people's horror. We're like battered spouses. Sure it's bad, but we've learned how to navigate it, and it usually works, and it's not that bad or someone else has it worse, and we'll be okay and we don't want to talk about it because they we look weak.

Like really? This actually seems inhumane to normal people? It doesn't have to be like this? We can't get it. There's a lot of fatalism here.

[oncomingscone.livejournal.com]

Word.

Thank God for the opportunities and the landscape and all the nice people.

I snagged your icon by the way. Tis glorious.

[verasteine.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I read the article last night, and it's such a weird thing to see for me. I mean, I'm on the outside looking in, because I live in a country that has a functioning health insurance system. I have to say, though, that I'm covered for childbirth and can't opt out -- but so is my male father. It's standard in the coverage (and you can't cover a partner under one policy, so it's not like he could cover a potential female spouse.) The law states that you can't distinguish between women and men. But when I signed up for my insurance (and I've cost them more by now than I've ever paid in premiums) I didn't even need to give them my medical records. They can't terminate my insurance, although they can terminate some additional coverage I've purchased -- but they haven't yet and I don't expect them to. It's rare.

This system you guys have, isn't there a law to stop this from happening? I should add, btw, that where I live, it's illegal not to have health insurance.

[abnormal-apathy.livejournal.com]

I live in the US and in MA, while it's not "illegal" to not have health insurance, the state will fine you heavily if you don't have it. So I have it. And I pay for it for my domestic partner because he can't afford it otherwise. But then I get penalized by havibg to pay taxes on his benefits because we are not married. So either which way you go about it, you're fucked.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Well said!

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

Being female is effectively considered a disease by insurers, despite the fact that women have much longer life expectancies than men.

Not despite. Because. The dead don't cost them money.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

...But the dead don't make them money either. If a company insures two people and one dies at 60 and one at 80, sure they'll end up paying out some for both their final illnesses, but person who lives longer will be paying them for 20 years extra - wouldn't companies tend to make more of an overall profit from longevity than not?

Forgive me if I'm wrong; I know very little about health insurance, and I recognise there'd be a lot of variation in individual cases, but that pinged my logicometer.

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

May I link to this post?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Feel free.

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

*sighs*

Being female, full stop, seems to be some icky pre-existing condition that the insurers would rather not deal with.

Despite having had the same insurance provider for the past five years or so - but not always the same plan - whenever I've gone to the MDs for treatment about *anything* I will cheerfully fudge onset dates of symptoms if I think I'm going to get hit with 'Oopsie, that predates your joining this plan, so we're disqualifying it and you'. I don't like being dishonest, but I dislike being uninsured even more so...

ETA: and now that I've accepted a scrip for Prozac, I suspect that any new-to-me plan in the future will try to turn me down as I've heard tell that depression is now treated like a pre-existing condition and cited as a reason to deny coverage. SIGH.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Depending upon the state laws and the insurance firm, I suspect your last point is worryingly possible. A bloke insured through Anthem Blue Cross of CA got dropped for having had heartburn in the last 6 months.

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

Charming. I've been on anti-depressants since 1997. I started on them because of acute depression, but later we found they improved my sleep (the original symptom of depression in my case) and thus I'm still on them. Reduces pain of fibromyalgia, which would likely be a pre-existing condition in and of itself.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

ETA: and now that I've accepted a scrip for Prozac, I suspect that any new-to-me plan in the future will try to turn me down as I've heard tell that depression is now treated like a pre-existing condition and cited as a reason to deny coverage. SIGH.

It's true, they will. I've a friend in Virginia who just got denied coverage for being on anti-depressants.

[http://users.livejournal.com/____hejira/]

So I don't comment much. I don't usually unless I really have something to say.

A-fucking-men. I had an ectopic pregnancy that required termination, and it still wasn't covered...go figure. Guess they wanted me to hemerege and bleed out rather than kill a getus which wouldn't have survived outside the euderus in the first place.

[celestinenox]

Though not exactly the same sort of thing, I've worked for a commercial insurance company in the past. Bottom line: it is literally their job to figure out how not to pay out on claims. The adjusters I worked with occasionally expressed guilt for denying a claim on a technicality because they knew the person's claim was valid, but also knew they'd be reprimanded for paying it.

Still, some of the things in this post and described in comments still shock me. I guess some part of me believed adjusters/claims reps for health insurance companies would be different, or better.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

This is certainly one of the more practical effects of being in a country that doesn't have "socialised health care". It is both infuriating and bizarre.

[crowgirl13.livejournal.com]

For the record - this post is my personal tipping point. After reading this, I went to talk to the folks at Planned Parenthood about volunteering. I might not be able to change Health Care by myself, but I can certainly do my level best to help. I'm really tired of women getting shafted for being women.

[chainkill.livejournal.com]

I was linked to this post by a friend and have a quick point before I head to work:

You say that being female is considered a disease despite the fact that women live longer. To an insurance company, I believe that just means that women are infected with a more expensive version of the "Life" virus, that needs to be treated for an extra five years on average. If you would just die early like men do, you wouldn't be so expensive.

(Disclaimer to everyone: This is a tongue-in-cheek comment, pointing out a flaw in the insurance companies' reasoning. Please don't flame me for views I do not hold.)