Editorial: New York Should Not Be Palin’ on HIV Protection for Rape Victims, By Jennifer Mercurio
November 13th, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin’s entrance into this year’s vice presidential race unleashed a flurry of news stories about her record as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, not all of them flattering.
One that leapt off the page was about rape kits.
According to some reports, it seems that sexual assault victims from Wasilla, during her tenure as mayor, had to pay for their own forensic exams.
The story caused outrage in the victims’ rights community here in New York and across the country. How could sexual assault victims be asked to pay for the forensic medical tools used to prosecute their assailants, we questioned. How could Palin ignore the injustice of this? How could she sleep at night?
In New York, we have the Forensic Payment Act which requires the state to pay for rape exams. But, before we finish congratulating ourselves, we might want to consider a recently vetoed piece of legislation in Albany that penalizes rape victims in a way not unlike those in Wasilla during the Palin administration.
The New York State bill in question would provide all victims of sexual assault with a streamlined payment plan to receive the full course of HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), a treatment critical in helping to prevent a victim from contracting HIV after an assault.
Victims today are provided with an anti-HIV starter pack as part of the acute care rendered in the emergency department. In order to receive the rest of the month-long treatment, a victim has to be seen by a physician who will provide the rest of the prescription. If that prescription is to be paid for by the New York State Crime Victims Board (CVB), which compensates crime victims for costs associated with the crimes committed against them, the victim/survivor has three choices: lay out the money and be reimbursed by CVB after filling out a claim form; use private health insurance if she or he has it and then submit reimbursement forms to the CVB for compensation, or apply for an emergency award from the CVB. But the victim/survivor must travel to a CVB office in Buffalo, Albany or Brooklyn in order to receive the award.
The current system is arduous, at best, for a person of means who can lay out the money or who has health insurance. For poor and uninsured New Yorkers, it represents a roadblock to life-saving treatment.
The streamlining bill passed in both the Assembly and the Senate, but on Sept. 8, the bill was vetoed by Governor Paterson.
Governor Paterson’s veto message cites fiscal restraints as a reason for the veto. That’s exactly how the Wasilla Police Chief justified his decision.
The Governor’s veto message reads: “It is impossible to know its precise fiscal impact, but it is clear that it would entail significant new costs that the State cannot now afford to incur. As our fiscal situation has become increasingly clear and increasingly grave, we have had to take strong measures to address it. This bill would be a step, and a large step, in the wrong direction. It is estimated that these new costs could reach as high as eight million dollars.”
That figure is widely disputed. Most experts estimate the additional expenditure to be a third of that cost annually. Plus, the federal government reimburses 60 percent of all claims made by the CVB. So now we’re talking about a figure closer to $1.5 million for preventive care that would not only save the state from incurring much higher costs should these victims actually contract HIV, but that also would save lives.
We are all aware of the historic budget restraints facing New York State. But at a likely cost of just $1.5 million annually, this bill is certainly worth another look.
Otherwise, the people of Wasilla might rightly voice outrage about how sexual assault victims are treated in New York.
Jennifer Mercurio is a former chair of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault and a past president of the National Women’s Political Caucus of New York State.
One that leapt off the page was about rape kits.
According to some reports, it seems that sexual assault victims from Wasilla, during her tenure as mayor, had to pay for their own forensic exams.
The story caused outrage in the victims’ rights community here in New York and across the country. How could sexual assault victims be asked to pay for the forensic medical tools used to prosecute their assailants, we questioned. How could Palin ignore the injustice of this? How could she sleep at night?
In New York, we have the Forensic Payment Act which requires the state to pay for rape exams. But, before we finish congratulating ourselves, we might want to consider a recently vetoed piece of legislation in Albany that penalizes rape victims in a way not unlike those in Wasilla during the Palin administration.
The New York State bill in question would provide all victims of sexual assault with a streamlined payment plan to receive the full course of HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), a treatment critical in helping to prevent a victim from contracting HIV after an assault.
Victims today are provided with an anti-HIV starter pack as part of the acute care rendered in the emergency department. In order to receive the rest of the month-long treatment, a victim has to be seen by a physician who will provide the rest of the prescription. If that prescription is to be paid for by the New York State Crime Victims Board (CVB), which compensates crime victims for costs associated with the crimes committed against them, the victim/survivor has three choices: lay out the money and be reimbursed by CVB after filling out a claim form; use private health insurance if she or he has it and then submit reimbursement forms to the CVB for compensation, or apply for an emergency award from the CVB. But the victim/survivor must travel to a CVB office in Buffalo, Albany or Brooklyn in order to receive the award.
The current system is arduous, at best, for a person of means who can lay out the money or who has health insurance. For poor and uninsured New Yorkers, it represents a roadblock to life-saving treatment.
The streamlining bill passed in both the Assembly and the Senate, but on Sept. 8, the bill was vetoed by Governor Paterson.
Governor Paterson’s veto message cites fiscal restraints as a reason for the veto. That’s exactly how the Wasilla Police Chief justified his decision.
The Governor’s veto message reads: “It is impossible to know its precise fiscal impact, but it is clear that it would entail significant new costs that the State cannot now afford to incur. As our fiscal situation has become increasingly clear and increasingly grave, we have had to take strong measures to address it. This bill would be a step, and a large step, in the wrong direction. It is estimated that these new costs could reach as high as eight million dollars.”
That figure is widely disputed. Most experts estimate the additional expenditure to be a third of that cost annually. Plus, the federal government reimburses 60 percent of all claims made by the CVB. So now we’re talking about a figure closer to $1.5 million for preventive care that would not only save the state from incurring much higher costs should these victims actually contract HIV, but that also would save lives.
We are all aware of the historic budget restraints facing New York State. But at a likely cost of just $1.5 million annually, this bill is certainly worth another look.
Otherwise, the people of Wasilla might rightly voice outrage about how sexual assault victims are treated in New York.
Jennifer Mercurio is a former chair of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault and a past president of the National Women’s Political Caucus of New York State.
