HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on LGBT Pride Month
At the heart of this administration is a core belief in equality.
This belief means ensuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) Americans have the same protections and opportunities as their
family members, neighbors, friends, and colleagues. Among the many areas
where we are working to ensure that fairness for LGBT individuals is
health care.
All Americans, no less LGBT individuals, deserve the
right to accessible, affordable, quality health care. Observing LGBT
Pride Month in June spotlights our commitment to addressing the special
health needs of LGBT Americans and reducing health disparities for them
and members of other vulnerable communities.
Studies have shown
that health disparities related to sexual orientation and gender
identity are due partly to lower rates of health coverage. LGBT
individuals have encountered discrimination in the health care system
for decades, and many studies have shown that they are affected by
chronic disease at a higher rate than other Americans.
The
Affordable Care Act has already made significant progress toward ending
some of the worst insurance company abuses and toward helping ensure
that LGBT Americans have access to coverage when they need it most. For
example, the Affordable Care Act ends lifetime dollar limits on
benefits, allowing for long-term comprehensive treatment of chronic
diseases.
In addition, the federal website, HealthCare.gov,
designed to help all consumers find the health insurance best suited to
their needs, makes it easy to locate health insurers that cover domestic
partners.
The Affordable Care Act will give all Americans,
including LGBT Americans, improved access to health coverage through an
expanded, stronger Medicaid program and new affordable Insurance
Exchanges, marketplaces for quality, affordable health insurance. And as
of last fall, insurers can no longer deny coverage to children because
of pre-existing health conditions – a protection that will extend to
every American in 2014. Similarly, insurers will no longer be able to
turn someone away just because he or she is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender. Additionally under the new law, many Americans, including
LGBT individuals, can now get vital preventive services, such as
mammograms, HIV testing, and other cancer screenings, with no co-pay or
deductible.
The Department of Health and Human Services continues
to address the specific health concerns of LGBT Americans, by working to
incorporate data collection on LGBT populations into national health
surveys and issuing rules requiring hospitals to allow same-sex partners
the ability to visit each other in the hospital.
Our efforts
haven’t stopped with health care. When confronted with the tragic
suicides of LGBT teens around the country who had been bullied, this
administration launched a historic effort to stop the bullying of LGBT
children and youth in their homes, schools, and communities. We’ve also
launched a new website called StopBullying.gov, a one-stop shop where
kids, teens, parents, and educators can go online to learn about
preventing and stopping bullying.
During Pride Month, we celebrate
our accomplishments while focusing on the work still to be done. Our
department is committed to improving the health and well-being of all
Americans, including LGBT Americans, and we look forward to continuing
this work during Pride Month and beyond.
For more information about how the Affordable Care Act is giving LGBT Americans more control over their health care, see
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