
One in 7 people who identify as LGBTQ avoid seeking healthcare for fear of discrimination by providers, reports Stonewall UK.
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A Global Concern: LGBTQ Medical Rights
The LGBTQ healthcare crisis isn’t just an issue in the UK, however. In the U.S. and even Canada, access to coverage and equal patient treatment to their straight counterparts are also major concerns. From insurance coverage concerns to discriminatory patient treatment, LGBTQ individuals deserve equal medical rights.
Insurance Coverage and Mounting Costs
One of the biggest challenges LGBTQ community members face is getting insurance coverage for health services. In the United States, for example, 37 of 50 states do not explicitly express any ban on health care coverage discrimination on basis of sex. Whether health or life insurance, some LGBTQ individuals don’t even attempt to apply for coverage anymore reports The Guardian. «A lot still think they won’t get cover, especially life insurance, if they are gay. They feel so disenfranchised, they don’t bother», states Steve Wardlaw in the report. With a lack of health coverage, LGBTQ individuals are at risk for increasingly expensive medical bills when they decide to seek care.
Battling Care Discrimination
It’s not just in the insurance world were LGBTQ individual face medical discrimination. At the level of basic care from nurses, providers, and practices, LGBTQ people face unequal treatment to their straight counterparts. In a recent study conducted by the NHS, one in five LGBTQ respondents cited that they had experienced discrimination on basis of sexual orientation from a general practitioner or provider, reports Independent.
In the U.S., some states have laws that protect providers refusing service based on moral or religious obligations. The Human Rights Watch believes that «Lawmakers need to make clear that patients come first, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity». Human beings at their very core–regardless of sexual identity or orientation–must be treated as equals and should not be refused medical services.
A Chronic Need: Mental Health and Education Services
One area of concern and need of expansive mental health coverage for LGBTQ individuals is mental health service. Studies show that LGBTQ individuals are at higher risk for mental health conditions and are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts, self-harm, depression, and substance abuse than their heterosexual counterparts reports the Mental Health Foundation UK. Although alarming, these results are not shocking due to the discrimination people in the LGBTQ community face on a daily basis in various aspects of their lives.
Some believe that this disparity is due to not only the lack of education and the stigma of mental health, but also the lack of education about LGBTQ issues in general. Feeling depressed has a stigma of its own. When you mix in embracing your authentic sexual orientation in a hetero-normative society, it’s quite challenging to feel that acceptance. In a series of BBC interviews of LGBTQ youth who experienced mental health conditions, 19 year old Charlie claims that he felt society failed him for there was a lack of education on mental health and, «no education on LGBTQ issues – or even the existence of LGBTQ people in a normal, functioning role in society».
While we’ve come a long way since the 1980s, society’s full acceptance of members of the LGBTQ community when it comes to medical care is an issue that needs attention on the global scale. Not only is health insurance a crisis, but access to non-discriminatory medical care is a fundamental right.