Working to open up health care access to trans community
The transgender community has long dealt with poor medical care, owing to a scarcity of skilled providers and widespread discrimination. A third of all trans people in a 2015 survey reported at least one negative experience while seeing a health care provider, including harassment and denial of treatment. And nearly a quarter of the respondents said they skipped needed care out of fear of being mistreated. The crisis has been worsened by the Trump administration’s recent decision to eliminate portions of the Affordable Care Act that protected transgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals, and health insurers. That move that was blunted by a Supreme Court decision in June that prohibited LGBTQ bias in employment, but it still threatens to complicate the lives of those in some states who could face challenges by insurers over transgender-related care. “There are more than 1.4 million trans people in the U.S., and yet it’s still...