OTHER NEWS - May 13, 1994

Group Says Battered Women Denied Insurance: Some of the nation’s largest insurers routinely deny life, health and other insurance coverage to women who have been beaten by their husbands, Paige Nielsen, head of Domestic Violence Services in Carlisle, Pa., and Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. They estimated the practice has affected thousands of women and discouraged others from reporting beatings and other abuse to their doctors and the police. Some insurers say their practices are designed to protect battered women by not giving their attackers, who could be beneficiaries, a financial incentive to kill the women. “These policies not only discriminate, they help perpetuate the myth that victims of domestic violence, unlike victims of other violent crimes, are somehow responsible for their injuries,” said Schumer, chairman of the House criminal justice subcommittee.