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.
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