Domestic Violence Pre-Existing Condition

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Domestic Violence Pre-Existing Condition
11
Wed, 10-07-2009 - 1:47pm

We are talking about insurance companies here. Did you know that in 9 states of our country, if you have a domestic violence incident on your record, insurance companies can deny you coverage? This is absolutely unfair! We were not aware of this as we're sure many other people weren't. According to the National Women's Law Center, the following states allow insurance companies to deny coverage to domestic violence victims: Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.

But this insurance company policy might be coming to an end soon according to the latest news. Democrats in Congress are making sure that this discriminatory insurance company practice will not be accepted in the new health reform bill. They also want people who know of domestic violence victims that were denied coverage, to let them know that perhaps now they might be covered by an insurance company. They should call their state department to find out and try to get coverage again.

We don't understand how on earth it was allowed in these 9 states to not cover domestic violence victims! So insurance companies figure that if a woman was injured by no fault of her own, she should be denied coverage? How about all the victims that are shot with a bullet every day? Should they be denied coverage? Or if someone crashes into your car with their car... should this not be covered, just because you drive a car? We don't understand on what grounds this was being allowed and why these states accepted it. We encourage that if you live in one of these states that allow this discrimination by insurance companies, to contact your state health department and demand this discriminatory insurance company policy be stopped!




Edited 10/7/2009 5:30 pm ET by martazoila

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Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 8:19am

Insurance companies are looking for any reason to deny coverage to all but the lowest risk customers.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 8:33am

I think that Insurance for health should be eliminated. As you mentioned it is a business that insures only the ones that cost less for them... It is by nature, not the right way to manage health care... I think we should just reform the whole darn thing, start over again. Obviously it doesn't work... We should fix it, before all citizens declare bankruptcy. Costs are so high that Americans feel like they have 2 mortgages every month!

pepper spray,mace,stun gun,taser,personal alarm,hidden safe,security camera,home protection,self defense products
Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 8:40am
We're stuck in the country between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Insurance companies are a business and there to make a profit so they skim off the top customers and leave the rest. Because of that, they make it cost prohibitive to provide health care for the rest of the population. I don't think it's practical to try to eliminate health insurance companies since they're so entrenched in our lives. But, that leaves the government to pick up the slack and it can't afford that either. If the solution were easy, we'd have one.










iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 9:45am

You hear about other countries that have health care that works, where all citizens are covered. Sure you also hear of some drawbacks, but at least no one goes bankrupt... I forget how many people, I heard in the news here, that go bankrupt in this country, simply because they couldn't pay their medical bills. That is a big problem! And to top it off, it doesn't help our economy!

pepper spray,mace,stun gun,taser,personal alarm,hidden safe,security camera,home protection,self defense products
Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 12:07pm
I work at a community center that serves people in need and, before the economy tanked, health care bills were the biggest reason people were there. By far. Since last year, unemployment has become a bigger part but then again, unemployment=no health care. I know people think Cobra is there but they can't afford the few hundred/thousands when they're fighting to put roofs over their family and feed them? It's too bad people don't realize how fortunate they are and aren't willing to see that others need help. To me, it's like watching someone drown in a pool and refusing to let the lifeguard help because that person never learned to swim...and then there's the critique of the lifeguard and how bad they are and how at one obscure pool, the lifeguard couldn't help, etc.










Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 12:31pm

Here's an insurance story. Tell me WHY someone would do this?


Just received a letter from an insurance company's "special investigations unit" complete with medical records for a patient that was seen at one of our hospitals on several occasions recently. The insurance company questions the doctor's signatures. Same doctor, different signatures each visit.


I showed the doctor these signatures and he shook his head and said "not mine."

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2008
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 12:35pm

Yes, many people unfortunately just look after themselves. Sometimes I think it is a lack of maturity. Fortunately there is a Government in place that can, to a point, control all the selfishness in society.

pepper spray,mace,stun gun,taser,personal alarm,hidden safe,security camera,home protection,self defense products
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 2:44pm

Hey All, I just learned I'm a medical marvel!


I ordered copies of my medical records recently. Apparently, two years ago, I underwent a complete ovario-hysterectomy, without my knowledge. It's right there in my Drs. notes! Here's where the "medical marvel" part comes in. I have apparently, since that time, regrown my uterus and ovaries, since I have an ovarian cyst and uterus, that appear on the ultrasound report,



Avatar for ddnlj
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 7:54am
Good heavens!!! How did such a thing get into your records?
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 10-09-2009 - 2:40pm
Will be looking for you in the Guinness book of world records.
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