Regional director of Health and Human Services Herb Schultz. Photo: Rick Gerharter.
LGBT Americans have much to gain with the implementation of the
Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law passed by Congress and
signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010, according to a
recent report issued by an LGBT-friendly progressive think tank.
Some
of the benefits LGBT Americans could see due to the legislation,
according to the report's authors, include an expansion of Medicaid
eligibility for many people unable to afford health insurance or health
care; increased cultural competency on LGBT issues for medical
professionals; and improved data collection to better identify and
address health disparities within the LGBT community.
"Only
one provision (Section 5306, regarding participation by people of
'different genders and sexual orientations' in mental and behavioral
health education and training programs) explicitly mentions the LGBT
community, but the law as a whole implicitly recognizes the toll that
disparities, discrimination, and inequity are taking on gay and
transgender people as part of the fabric of American society," concludes
the report.
Titled
"Changing the Game: What Health Care Reform Means for Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual and Transgender Americans," the 31-page report was issued by
the Center for American Progress, a think tank with Democratic ties that
has offices in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.
