As the US Supreme Court today takes up the constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Act's health insurance mandate provision, it is important and valuable to re-look at why this is such an important law for all Americans, including GLBT Americans. And these reasons are in addition to lowering our national debt (according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office) - in direct contravention to the out-and-out lies being spread by those GOP presidential candidates. Read on:
Warren
>
>
> Top 10 Things Health Reform Does for Gay and Transgender Americans
> The Affordable Care Act Is 'The Strongest Foundation' for Closing LGBT
> Disparities
>
> SOURCE: AP/Matt Rourke
>
> In a recent speech at the first-ever White House LGBT Health
> Conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
> noted, "The Affordable Care Act may represent the strongest foundation
> we have ever created to begin closing LGBT health disparities."
>
> By Kellan Baker | March 26, 2012
>
> Print Email Text-size: A A A Share:
> "The Affordable Care Act may represent the strongest foundation we
> have ever created to begin closing LGBT health disparities."
>
> — Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius
>
> The Affordable Care Act is the most significant reform of the U.S.
> health system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the
> 1960s. The law's impact will be especially profound for lesbian, gay,
> bisexual, and transgender people, who are poorly served by many parts
> of our current system.
>
> In a recent speech at the first-ever White House LGBT Health
> Conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
> noted, "When this Administration took office, the health care system
> wasn't working for a lot of Americans. But it was especially broken
> for LGBT Americans. ... that wasn't right. All Americans, regardless
> of where they live or their age, sex, race, sexual orientation, or
> gender identity, have a basic right to get the care they need."
>
> Here are the top 10 ways the Affordable Care Act benefits gay and
> transgender Americans.
>
> 1. Data collection to better understand LGBT health disparities
> According to Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act, the secretary of
> health and human services may collect any demographic data that she or
> he believes to be important for understanding and addressing health
> disparities. In June 2011 Secretary Sebelius announced a plan for
> including sexual orientation and gender identity in national data
> collection efforts starting in 2013, in addition to the law's required
> categories of race, ethnicity, primary language, sex, and disability
> status.
>
> 2. Patient's Bill of Rights to end insurance company abuses
> The new patient's Bill of Rights in the Affordable Care Act outlaws
> many of the insurance industry's worst abuses. For instance, it ended
> lifetime limits on coverage in 2010 and will phase out annual limits
> on coverage by 2014, both of which are particularly important for
> people with conditions such as HIV or cancer. As of 2014 it also
> prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage on the basis of a
> pre-existing condition such as HIV or a transgender medical history
> and from arbitrarily canceling a sick person's coverage.
>
> 3. Expansion of public insurance coverage
> The Affordable Care Act sets a new national threshold for Medicaid
> eligibility. Starting in 2014 every adult under age 65 who makes less
> than $15,000 per year will be eligible for Medicaid coverage
> regardless of which state he or she lives in. This group of newly
> eligible Medicaid beneficiaries will include many gay and transgender
> people and their families, since widespread discrimination in the
> workplace and in relationship recognition means that gay and
> transgender people are disproportionately likely to make less than
> $15,000 per year and to be uninsured. The new national eligibility
> threshold also eliminates the disability requirement for Medicaid
> coverage for people living with HIV.
>
> 4. Expansion of private insurance coverage
> The law also requires every state to put in place a health insurance
> exchange starting in 2014. The exchanges will offer subsidies that
> make it possible for small employers and individuals who make between
> $15,000 and $43,000 per year to purchase affordable private coverage.
> Exchanges may not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or
> gender identity in any of their activities, and all exchange plans
> must offer comprehensive benefits across 10 essential health benefit
> categories, including prescription drugs, hospital stays, and mental
> and behavioral health services.
>
> 5. Coverage of preventive care
> Under the Affordable Care Act all Medicare beneficiaries receive free
> annual checkups, and insurance companies may not charge copays or
> other fees for preventive services that are recommended by the U.S.
> Preventive Services Task Force. Of particular importance for gay and
> transgender people, these services include HIV and other sexually
> transmitted infection testing, depression screening, vaccinations,
> tobacco-use screening, and cholesterol and high blood pressure
> screening. The law's Women's Health Amendment also requires insurers
> to cover comprehensive preventive services for women, including
> contraception, intimate-partner violence screening, and annual
> well-woman visits.
>
> 6. Easy-to-find information about health care reform and you
> This website (also in Spanish), which was one of the consumer-friendly
> reforms the Affordable Care Act required, is the one-stop shop the
> Department of Health and Human Services maintains for all things
> related to health care reform. The site offers a wide range of
> information about the law, including a Health Plan Finder tool that
> allows consumers shopping for coverage to compare plan details such as
> cost-sharing and benefit design in order to choose the option that
> best meets their needs. Same-sex couples, many of whom do not have
> access to health insurance through their own or their partner's
> employer, can use a built-in filter to find plans offering coverage
> for domestic partners.
>
> 7. A diverse and culturally competent health care workforce
> The Affordable Care Act prioritizes building a culturally competent
> and diverse health care workforce with a particular focus on primary
> care providers. The law triples the size of the National Health
> Service Corps, which places newly trained health care providers in
> underserved areas around the country, and the Department of Health and
> Human Services is offering LGBT cultural-competence training to corps
> members. What's more, a new $11 billion fund supports new community
> health centers and expansion of existing centers, and the law requires
> the exchanges to ensure access to "essential community providers,"
> including community health centers that have expertise providing care
> to underserved populations such as the gay and transgender community.
>
> 8. Services for people living with HIV or AIDS
> A major aspect of the Affordable Care Act is making prescription drugs
> more affordable, which will help people living with HIV or AIDS afford
> the medications they need. The law phases out the Medicare Part D
> "donut hole" by 2020 and requires pharmaceutical companies to provide
> a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole. It also
> allows ADAP, or the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, contributions to
> count toward Medicare Part D's True Out of Pocket Spending Limit,
> which will help people with HIV move out of the donut hole more
> quickly. To connect people living with HIV to health coverage and
> services, the law prohibits insurers from using pre-existing condition
> exclusions and charging higher premiums based on health status
> starting in 2014, removes the requirement that people with HIV have to
> wait for an AIDS diagnosis before they can qualify for Medicaid
> coverage, and promotes patient-centered medical homes in which
> providers work together as a team to coordinate high-quality and
> timely care for people with chronic conditions.
>
> 9. Nondiscrimination protections
> Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act extends federal
> nondiscrimination protections to the health care system for the first
> time. These protections include the Americans with Disabilities Act
> and the Rehabilitation Act, which protect individuals living with HIV
> or AIDS, and Title IX of the education amendments of 1972, which offer
> protections on the basis of sex. A national trend in case law
> interprets Title IX to include gender identity and sex stereotyping,
> though not sexual orientation. The Equal Opportunity Employment
> policies at several federal agencies, including the Department of
> Health and Human Services, also include gender identity under sex
> protections.
>
> 10. Community-based prevention programs
> According to the National Prevention Strategy, which was created under
> the Affordable Care Act, "all Americans should have the opportunity to
> live long, healthy, independent, and productive lives, regardless of
> their … sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or
> other characteristics." To support this goal the law created a $15
> billion Prevention and Public Health Fund that will fund new public
> health initiatives such as the Community Transformation Grants program
> at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011, $102
> million was awarded to 59 communities and states to fight leading
> causes of illness and death for more than 115 million people, and
> several of these grantees included the gay and transgender population
> as a priority population.
>
> Despite the media storm of misinformation and vicious partisan
> politics surrounding the Affordable Care Act, many of the law's
> reforms are already making a difference in the lives of gay and
> transgender Americans—and many more benefits are still to come. The
> initial rollout of Affordable Care Act reforms before 2014 is just a
> starting point for a long-term process of turning our "sick care"
> system into a true health system that provides all Americans with the
> opportunity to build healthy lives, families, and communities. We
> should all be fighting to protect it.
>
> Kellan Baker is a Health Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress
>
> More:
> http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/aca_top_10_lgbt.html
>
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