Although the federal Violence Against Women Act is supposed to guarantee sexual violence survivors free coverage of forensic exams taken to collect evidence for a rape kit, some women are still being charged, a March 18 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found.
Three things to know:
1. The charges could occur if the exam is conducted by someone who is not recognized as a Medical Forensic Exam provider. The exams are typically provided by specially trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, which only a small number of hospitals in the U.S. have. There is no national database of these nurse examiners, and often survivors may not know the exams aren't free if they aren't performed by specific providers. And hospital billing services might not know that the victim shouldn't be charged and send a bill, according to the report.
2. States are not uniform in services provided in forensic exams. Some services, like medication, X-rays or MRIs, are not covered by the federal act.
3. Kaiser Family Foundation found that 66 percent of privately insured women who had forensic evidence collected in a rape kit were charged out-of-pocket costs for some services that are usually included in minimum standard rape kit requirements.
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