There are eight states and the District of Columbia where insurance companies claim that getting beaten up by your spouse is a pre-existing condition for which you can be denied health insurance coverage. Victims of domestic violence are legally denied health insurance by companies who say that this condition is a pre-existing and cannot be covered. The companies involved include, Nationwide, Allstate, State Farm, Aetna, Metropolitan Life, The Equitable Companies, First Colony Life, The Prudential and Principal Financial Group in 1995 were all found to have denied or canceled coverage to women who were beaten. The states that still allow this practice are Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
In 2006, Senator Parry Murray (D-Washington) tried to end the practice of insurance denial for victims of domestic violence, but ten Republicans voted no in the Health Education and labor Pension committee thereby blocking the measure.
Title: When Getting Beaten By Your Husband Is A Pre-Existing Condition
Source: Huffington Post, 9/15/2009
URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/when-getting-beaten-by-yo_n_286029.html
Author: Ryan Grim
Student Researcher: Tracena Webster
Faculty Evaluator: Suzel A. Bozada-deas
Sonoma State University:Â Sociology of Media, Fall 2009
Instructor: Peter Phillips, #14