Poor Healthcare Outcomes Resulting from Discrimination
Introduction to a Real World Issue: Taken from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Health (NIAID) headed by Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.
Health disparities are gaps in the quality of health and health care mirroring differences in socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic background, and education level. These disparities may stem from many factors, including accessibility of health care, increased risk of disease from occupational exposure, and increased risk of disease from underlying genetic, ethnic, or familial factors. NIH-designated U.S. health disparity populations include American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, sexual and gender minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, and underserved rural populations.
Batocchio sponsored The Incidental Economist (the health services research blog) at Mike’s Blog on Crooks and Liars this week. Incidental Economist Kristina’s topic was about the LGBTQ community and discriminatory healthcare. It is an interesting post and I hope you read it. What I did was expand upon it by adding more detail on the amount and detail of discrimination by governmental, commercial, and government entities.
“Analyzing LGBTQ+ Health Outcomes from Health Care Discrimination,” The Incidental Economist, Kristina Carvalho.
Private Insurance Exclusions Banned by 24 States
Medical Best Practice Care Ban by Three States
Medicaid Coverage Exclusion by Nine States
State Employee Benefits by 15 States excludes Gender – Affirming Care
Overall Policy Tally
Percentage of US Adult LGBTQ Community Covered by Law
As you can see, there is no set policy for the treatment of sexual and gender minorities.
Movement Advancement Project | Snapshot (mapresearch.org)
Movement Advancement Project | Healthcare Laws and Policies (lgbtmap.org)
Gender affirming care I think is a weak area to try to establish the impact of medical discrimination. For example, much of this care involves plastic surgery on healthy tissue with the reasoning that the patient will feel better about their altered body. This might be true, yet is the same reasoning behind a far greater volume of plastic surgery that – as yet – few think should be brought under collective funding mechanisms. Another good fraction of this care is chemically altering what had been normally functioning endocrine systems. Again, the actual care is not to relieve disease. US healthcare funding system is inefficient enough without expanding it to cover certain elective plastic surgeries or to deliberately damage healthy bodies which will then very possibly create a life-long need for further medications. Not covering many gender affirming care procedures doesn’t necessarily equate to medical discrimination if there are broader policy reasons not to do it. Here I think it is not a slam-dunk to argue discrimination when broader reasons might apply.
Here I think it is not a slam-dunk to argue discrimination when broader reasons might apply.
Why do you make this so difficult to make your point?
The milder version of your argument is: “I do not believe in allowing such.”
Your argument on healthcare funding being inefficient is flawed when the costs of healthcare are taken into consideration. In reality US healthcare is overpriced when all the inputs are taken into consideration. Commercial Healthcare Insurance Overhead is an ~15% as compared to Medicare’s 2-3%. That in itself is $billions spent on a clerical function. The direct cost is far less in other countries.
On just those factors alone I am dissembling your beliefs to something superficial in your argument. It is not the costs, the inefficiency, etc. You have a morality issue with sex-change issues and/or correction. Most people disagree with you. Some states refuse to acknowledge it denying treatment even if it were a phycological issue.
So, what should they do? Step in front of the Milwaukee Road railway, swim in Devil’s Elbow on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, swim out into Lake Michigan to Plum or Washington Islands. etc.? Denial of care does not treat a so called condition when it is a reality.