Survivors describe uninsured status, lost income from advocacy
For Bensky and many other survivors of the convicted sex trafficker, the simple dreams enjoyed by so many Americans remain out of reach. In addition to the psychological and physical toll of sexual trauma, some Epstein victims face extreme financial pressures related to their pursuit of justice for the well-connected predator. Bensky is currently uninsured and paying all of her healthcare costs herself. “Right now, I am uninsured,” Bensky said. Physical therapy for a post-traumatic injury costs approximately $200 per visit, she said, and Bensky knows she should attend more than twice per month but said she cannot afford it. The yoga that helps keep her centered runs about $250 monthly. “I’m paying for everything out of pocket,” Bensky said.
Bensky has received coverage for mental health treatment because of a settlement between an investment bank and US Virgin Islands authorities that led to the creation of a mental health fund, she said, but said there are many other costs associated with healing that remain unaddressed.
Bensky has had to take time off from work to advocate on behalf of survivors and has hit roadblocks in securing new work because of her advocacy. “There are certain places that won’t even hire some of us now because they’re saying that we’re ‘too political,’” she said. She has also paid directly for advocacy travel. “I’ve paid a lot of money to be able to be an advocate this year,” Bensky said. “I paid to get myself to the State of the Union [address]. I paid yesterday to go and speak at Ayanna Pressley’s press conference.” She defended those out-of-pocket costs as essential. “The advocacy component of this is so important, and it feels very crucial to many of us,” Bensky said. “So we will always pay to get ourselves there in the name of trying to make it safer and make change.”
Pressley, Leger Fernández and Ross this week introduced the Survivors’ Rights Restitution Act to address survivors’ financial burdens. The bill would launch a restitution fund in the judicial branch “for survivors of sexual violence whose rights were violated by the federal government, including all survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” according to a statement from Pressley’s office. Pressley said in the statement that the deep financial burden survivors carry “coupled with mental and physical trauma — can be debilitating,” and that navigating such harm can lead to time away from work and a loss of income “while rent is due, daily needs have to be met, and medical expenses to address physical injury and mental health support pile up.” Pressley added that the bill “would force our government to bring the meaningful accountability and compensation that survivors are owed.”
Many survivors support the initiative, but the likelihood of it passing both chambers of Congress and securing President Donald Trump’s signature seems unlikely in the near future given heightened partisanship and geopolitical distractions, the Guardian reported. As a result, an initiative for steadier financial footing is poised more to be a long-term prospect rather than a source of immediate relief.
Jess Michaels, a former professional dancer, told the Guardian that her financial future was derailed after Epstein assaulted her. She had flourished as a professional dancer, but the attack left her unable to pursue work. “I would go into auditions and I would lose my nerve,” Michaels said. “I would be unable to finish an audition. I would be unable to go to auditions because I would be stuck in bed, frozen or crying, and that lasted throughout my 20s.” Her career never recovered. “The career that I had worked for collapsed,” Michaels said. “What does that end up costing someone?” She noted that for much of the time, “it meant I didn’t even have insurance.”
Michaels framed the harm she sustained as one that demands medical care before criminal proceedings. “Sexual harm is an injury that demands first aid care, just like any other injury, before it is a crime demanding an interrogation,” Michaels said. She said she has for years been dealing with physical ailments related to nervous system harm. “That’s why I am someone that deals with gastrointestinal issues, cardiovascular issues, immune system issues, endocrine issues, endocrine system issues,” she said. “There’s something that happens when you have PTSD for a long period of time. It doesn’t just go away.”
If the bill passes, Michaels wants to spend money on her health, which she said had deteriorated over the past year amid the stresses of advocacy. Even though Michaels has health insurance, “a functional medicine doctor that actually understands what I’m going through is expensive, and it’s often not covered by insurance,” she said. “Right now I can’t afford to get the exact type of doctor that I really need,” she said. “I have to wing it with AI, my [primary care provider], my insurance company, and I’m navigating all of those things, which is exhausting all on its own.”
Even when her advocacy travel is covered in full, Michaels said, outside costs such as dog sitting can run $175 to $200 per day. “People go, ‘Oh, you chose to do it,’ but who’s going to do it for us?” she said. “Nobody’s going to do it for us, and nobody can really do it for us.” Michaels also disputed any assumption that participation in Epstein compensation funds equated to a lifelong windfall. Similar sexual assault cases that did not relate to Epstein, her attorney said, might result in settlements up to $2.5 million. “I got a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of that,” Michaels said.
Annie Farmer, an outspoken Epstein survivor who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell at the British socialite’s 2021 trial, told the Guardian she is now able to receive money for therapy from the Virgin Islands mental health fund. But from 2019 until the near-present, Farmer said, she spent “many thousands” of dollars on therapy. She has not been working this year because her advocacy “has taken over my life.” “That’s obviously a choice I made. I could have kept working and not really been so involved in all the advocacy, but I think it would have been hard to do both in the way at the level I’ve been involved,” Farmer said. “I couldn’t work full-time, certainly, so there’s a cost to that.” Farmer said she felt able to make that choice because she received funds from Epstein compensation and mental health funds, but said some other survivors are not in that position. “I’ve been able to do this and still be OK and be comfortable, but I think for people that either haven’t received those funds or received significantly less, it is that much more stressful.”
Survivors praised World Without Exploitation, an organization dedicated to ending commercial sexual exploitation, for financial assistance with advocacy. But, they said, the cost of participating in advocacy remains steep even with assistance.
Compensation has varied significantly across survivors, according to Spencer Kuvin, chief legal officer of Goldlaw, who has represented multiple Epstein survivors. “Some victims received very little, while others received a lot,” Kuvin said. “The amount of money received depended on the severity of the abuse and how the abuse affected the survivor. Some survivors received tens of thousands while others received millions.”
Julie Roginsky, who pursued a sexual harassment claim against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes and co-launched the non-profit Lift Our Voices, said many do not understand the long-term ramifications for survivors, even those who have been lauded for their bravery. “After that applause dies down, you’re lying in bed at night at 2 o’clock in the morning, looking at the ceiling and wondering: what the hell just happened to my life? It’s been completely turned upside down,” Roginsky said. “That is incredibly debilitating to know that you did the right thing, you spoke up for yourself and for other women, and it’s following you for the rest of your life – not just because of what happened to you, but also because people now refuse to give you a chance professionally,” she said. When survivors come to Roginsky or her colleagues with questions about coming forward, she always tells them it is a personal decision because there are ramifications that can be “brutal.” “I absolutely encourage people to come forward for themselves and to hold their perpetrators accountable and to help others, but at the same time, there is a huge cost to that,” Roginsky said.