Ann - Each area is different. I did read a couple articles about it and it seems that Wasilla was the only one in Alaska this way, but the articles I did read were blatantly anti-Palin [will look for more later] so I don't know if they were including... not misinformation, but not including all details. I do know it had to do with a bill the former Gov. signed that said municipalities were supposed to pay for them but offered no reimbursement [on a federal level these are 'unfunded mandates' and a cost analysis has to be done now before they go through in large part because so many unfunded mandates were being pushed through Congress and state/local governments simply could not afford them but had to do them anyway]. On a federal level, in order to qualify for grants under the Violence Against Women Act, *states* are supposed to cover the costs and not pass it on to victims. It seems Alaska may have been passing that cost on to municipalities.
According to
City Data [and I have no idea how accurate it is, though the stats for my town that's slightly bigger than Wasilla seems pretty accurate], there's been between 1 and 3 rapes per year this century. I'm guessing those are convictions not accusations, but I don't know that. I have no idea what the average number of rape kits v. convictions are.
This is a US News article from Feb. that talks about this in other places [as Palin wasn't even in the news at this point].
How forensic exam costs are handled varies. In some locations, hospitals bill patients' insurance and absorb whatever the insurers don't pay or bill patients for the balance. Some states have special funds to cover a portion of the costs. Others require convicted offenders to pay into a fund to reimburse the costs of the exams.
No one I spoke with tried to defend the practice of billing rape victims for their exams. Predictably, people cited a host of problems—from bureaucratic inefficiency to chronic underfunding of victim compensation funds—that partially explain but don't excuse it. Ironically, the nature of rape may actually make it more likely that victims will be billed for the evidence-gathering exam. Unlike a break-in, where police gather forensic evidence at the victim's home and send it directly to the crime lab, in rape the victim's body is the scene of the crime. In these cases, "there's a crossover between medical care and forensic care," says Brown.
More info is needed IMO about how Wasilla government works and how those decisions are arrived at and whether the state was basically passing an unfunded mandate to pass those costs onto municipalities instead of funding the costs through the state budget. I'd also be more interested to know what, if anything changed between then and when she became governor and if anything was done about it then [if anything needed to be depending on what exactly state law was when she took office].
Carol
Edit: Missed the part about those without insurance - in some places there are charitable organizations etc that will help with expenses incurred. I would think that it's very possible as well, that hospitals would write off those charges if asked [though the victim would have to ask] and try to get reimbursed through the state or by the perpetrator.
