Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Imagine for a moment, if you can, you're a victim of sexual assault. You report it, and you have a medical examination done to collect forensic evidence, which is known as a rape kit. You attempt to recover from the trauma. Then a few weeks later you receive a bill in the mail charging you for the expenses of that investigation. Sounds unbelievable, right? Unfortunately it's not uncommon.
Recently a woman named Elyse Anders posted to Twitter a letter from her health provider stating that her account had been sent to collections because she'd refused for pay her bill for the rape kit. In just a few days she had been retweeted nearly 3,500 times.
Nora Caplan-Bricker, contributing writer for DoubleX at Slate, has been covering the story and joins host A Martinez with details.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.