“A woman called with a horrifying story. She’d been raped, then went to the hospital, where she was questioned and processed for evidence. Eight days later, she got the first of two billing statements indicating she would owe hundreds of dollars for her care, including the costs of HIV drugs, STD and pregnancy tests, use of an ER room and more. The story, it turned out, was not uncommon. In Louisiana, victims of sex crimes often face paralyzing bills for forensic medical exams and related care, even though state and federal guidelines require that many of these services be provided at no cost to the victim. There’s also little continuity in how rape victims are treated from parish to parish and hospital to hospital. The state’s Crime Victims Reparations Fund does permit victims to apply for reimbursement for some medical expenses, but there are strict limitations regarding who can qualify, including a requirement that the victim file a police report, a measure which statistically closes out about two-thirds of all sex assault victims, according to studies. They also can’t have had any felonies in the past five years. They can’t have behaved in a way that, in the opinion of the board, “contributed to the crime.” And they can’t have been involved in other illegal activity at the time they were victimized. As further reporting revealed, those restrictions meant only 33 sexual assault survivors in 2013 even applied for financial reimbursement for medical costs. And between 2009 and 2013, just 164 people successfully received money through Crime Victims Reparations — a small fraction of the roughly 1,200 forcible rapes reported to Louisiana law enforcement annually and the 2,500 who turned to rape crisis centers for help in 2013.”
