Why healthcare matters for LGBT people

Last weekend the House of Representatives passed a groundbreaking Health Care reform bill. After a successful lobbying effort from national LGBT organizations, five provisions were added to the bill to ensure that the LGBT community will benefit from this legislation. Included in this bill are provisions for:

Health Disparities- This provision would recognize the LGBT community as a population with health disparities. This would allow funding for research on the LGBT community in order to better address the problems they are facing.

Unequal Taxation of Domestic Partnership Benefits – This provision would ensure equal taxation of employer based domestic partner health benefits. This would make it so people with domestic partnerships would be more able to pay for employer based health insurance.

Early treatment for HIV under Medicaid – This provision would allow states to provide early HIV treatment to lower-income people with Medicaid. This will dramatically increase the quality of life for people living with HIV and would also help reduce the transmission of HIV.

Comprehensive Sex Education – This bill would provide much needed funding for comprehensive sexual education in school. The purpose of this provision is to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections or diseases and also to reduce the number of teen pregnancies in this county.

Non-Discrimination – This provision would prevent insurance companies from considering personal characteristics unrelated to the provision of health care. It would prevent companies from dropping coverage or charging LGBTs more based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.