rape as a pre-existing condition

A 38-year-old woman in Ithaca, N.Y., said she was raped last year and then penalized by insurers because in giving her medical history she mentioned an assault she suffered in college 17 years earlier. The woman, Kimberly Fallon, told a nurse about the previous attack and months later, her doctor's office sent her a bill for treatment. She said she was informed by a nurse and, later, the hospital's billing department that her health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, not only had declined payment for the rape exam, but also would not pay for therapy or medication for trauma because she "had been raped before."


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

Because of the work I've done, the life I have lived, I know there are a lot shades of grey. Almost nothing in this life is black or white. I still believe that some things are utterly morally reprehensible though. Sexual assault goes on that list. I think I must also add any person who writes pre-existing condition down on a rape victim and denies them medical benefits or therapy because of it.

I think a lot about the human condition while I read the news. There's so much selfishness and such a lack of compassion that drives so much of what's wrong with us. From the healthcare situation to the equal rights movement to taxes and wars and neighborhood development, there's such a virulent strain of unwillingness.

God knows I am not as compassionate as I should be, that I'm often angry. There is so much grey.

When it makes my head hurt too much, I flip over to The Good Dollar community to remind myself that even small amounts count. (If you want to see a concise post on how much money has been raised and where it went over the past three months, go here for it. I encourage you to join.)

That's just the work of a few dozen people, a tiny fraction of time spent online. But I find it very inspiring, and I've found in the past three months I've made a substantial effort to make more small donations here and there.

the misogyny of women's health care

http://rm.livejournal.com/1734549.html
Quote:
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.

Racheline has made an excellent post about the host of things that are true and really do happen to people. Things like being told you have to wait six months for a diagnostic MRI your doctor needs to determine if your cancer is in both breasts or just one, cause oh you already had one MRI during the course of this and getting another just isn't cost effective for your insurance company. Or the awful, inherent misogyny of being told you can't possibly make up your mind about whether to have children or not so of course you can't have permanent birth control procedures. And god forbid you get pregnant, then try to get health coverage, because that's a pre-existing condition.