Health Care Reform is an LGBT Issue!

Tell Your Representative to Vote YES on Health Care Reform!

We are at an unprecedented point in the process of national health care reform: the House of Representatives is voting on its reform bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), within the next week. It is crucial for the LGBT community that this bill passes with a strong majority. The House bill includes numerous provisions that are key to the health and well-being of our community.

Our community is the under-insured and uninsured. We are seniors and youth, women, people of color, immigrants, and transgender people. We are too often discriminated against by insurance companies and health care providers and denied the care that we need. The status quo harms our community and our families, and we deserve better.

Tell your Representatives to pass LGBT-inclusive health care reform NOW. Here are three ways to support the Affordable Health Care for America Act:

1. GATHER People Together. Hold a community call-in night at a local community center or your home. Tell people to come with their cell phones charged up and spend the evening calling toll-free 1-877-264-HCAN (1-877-264-4226), contacting their Representatives to push for passage of the House bill.

2. CALL Your Representatives. Use that toll-free number 1-877-264-HCAN (1-877-264-4226) to call your Representatives and ask them to support the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

3. EMAIL Your Representatives. Send your legislators a letter pushing for the passage of the House bill stressing that a strong public option, LGBT-inclusive data collection, and clear nondiscrimination provisions are especially important to LGBT people.

Tell me more

Talking Points

How Many Americans Are Uninsured?

Several studies estimate the number of uninsured Americans. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007, their latest data available.
Nearly 90 million people, about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2007 or 2008 without health coverage.

How Does Being Uninsured Harm Individuals and Families?

Studies estimate that the number of excess deaths among uninsured adults age 25-64 is in the range of 22,000 a year. This mortality figure is more than the number of deaths from diabetes (17,500) within the same age group.
On average, the uninsured are 9 to 10 times more likely to forgo medical care because of cost and twice as likely to have medical debt.
Over the last decade, disparities between the uninsured and insured widened in access to a usual source of care, annual check-ups, and preventive care, and are the greatest in disparities and are growing.

How Are LGBT People Affected?

Access to Care
- Employer-based coverage doesn't cover same-sex partners in most states and localities
- The lack of inclusive non discrimination policies results in a high rate of unemployment in the transgender community and reduces access to insurance coverage.
LGBT Individuals and Families Are Invisible to Policy-Makers
- The terms "family", "parent", and "spouse" are commonly used to exclude LGBT families on the basis of a lack of access to the rights and benefits of legal marriage.
- Same-sex partners who have entered into domestic partnerships and civil unions should be able to access health care through programs designed to cover families, such as the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
A Community at Risk for Pre-Existing Conditions
- Many transgender individuals with a previous diagnosis or history of treatment for transsexualism report being excluded outright from purchasing even basic individual coverage for routine care.
- LGBT individuals are less likely overall to have accessed ongoing preventive health care or early diagnostic services, leading to untreated conditions.

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing to ask you to support a public health care option in the coming health care reform.  This public option is especially important for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
 
We are underinsured. Nationally 25% of LGBT youth had no insurance in 2008. A 2009 study found that 20% of gay and lesbian people and 23.5% of bisexual people in New York City had no insurance.

We need to be able to work with doctors and medical providers who know our communities and are familiar with our unique health needs. Without a public health option, we can only hope that our insurance carrier will cover our health care providers.

We can't always count on employer-supplied insurance. Many LGBT people have jobs that do not qualify for insurance and those who are covered may not be able to get coverage for partners or children.

As Congress and the Obama Administration reform the American healthcare system, I'm asking you to make sure that we all have fair access to health care. Any reformed system needs to take care of everyone, especially those left out in the past. Only a strong public option guarantees that.

I ask you to insist on a health care plan that would provide affordable and accessible health care to all that need it.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely, 
Your Name

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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