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Surprising Science

Rape Insurance? No Way

Insurance companies deny raped women cover due to ‘pre-existing condition’ of post-assault HIV fears and post-traumatic stress.

An insurance firm denied 45-year-old Christina Turner cover after she was raped by two men who drugged her and left her lying battered on the roadside. She was prescribed anti-AIDS medicine by her doctor and never developed HIV, but when her health insurance expired she was told her medication raised too many health questions, according to a report in The Huffington Post. Reporters found: “Some women have contacted the [The Huffington Post] 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.”


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