GAY NEWS
Survey Shows Nearly 1 in 4 Gay Americans Lack Health Insurance
By RealJock.com Staff
Published May 19, 2008
Published May 19, 2008
Nearly one in four gay and lesbian Americans have no health insurance, according to a recent national survey conducted by Harris Interactive in conjunction with Witeck-Combs. The study also revealed that gays and lesbians are almost twice as likely to have no health insurance coverage as their heterosexual counterparts.
The survey, which ran from April 7 to 15, 2008, tracked 2,710 adults, of whom 343 self-identified as gay or lesbian. Of these, 22 percent of the gay and lesbian respondents reported having no health insurance, compared to only 12 percent of heterosexual adults in the survey.
Harris's study did not ask participants to explain why they lacked health insurance, although a little background reading reveals a likely culprit: inability to get the spousal coverage frequently offered to married couples. Another possible cause? Fear. Many gays and lesbians don't ask for domestic partner benefits even when they're offered, for fear of outing themselves at the workplace. This may help explain why 85 percent of the Harris survey's gay and lesbian respondents said that it was important to them that health insurance companies provide domestic partner health coverage.
Lack of universal healthcare coverage in the United States is one of the most hotly debated issues in the upcoming presidential elections. A recent ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 62 percent prefer a universal health insurance program over the current employer-based system, compared to 32 percent who don't.
Not surprisingly, the Harris survey also found that gays and lesbians tend to respond to healthcare products marketed specifically at gays and lesbians. Seventy-nine percent of gay and lesbians respondents reported that seeing a print advertisement for a health insurance product that uses images of gay and lesbian people would be an important factor in their decision-making process when they considered a company’s health insurance products. Assuming factors such as price, quality, and convenience were not considerations, 78 percent of gay and lesbian respondents said they would be likely to consider an insurance provider or plan that was marketed specifically to the GLBT community.
The survey, which ran from April 7 to 15, 2008, tracked 2,710 adults, of whom 343 self-identified as gay or lesbian. Of these, 22 percent of the gay and lesbian respondents reported having no health insurance, compared to only 12 percent of heterosexual adults in the survey.
Harris's study did not ask participants to explain why they lacked health insurance, although a little background reading reveals a likely culprit: inability to get the spousal coverage frequently offered to married couples. Another possible cause? Fear. Many gays and lesbians don't ask for domestic partner benefits even when they're offered, for fear of outing themselves at the workplace. This may help explain why 85 percent of the Harris survey's gay and lesbian respondents said that it was important to them that health insurance companies provide domestic partner health coverage.
Lack of universal healthcare coverage in the United States is one of the most hotly debated issues in the upcoming presidential elections. A recent ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 62 percent prefer a universal health insurance program over the current employer-based system, compared to 32 percent who don't.
Not surprisingly, the Harris survey also found that gays and lesbians tend to respond to healthcare products marketed specifically at gays and lesbians. Seventy-nine percent of gay and lesbians respondents reported that seeing a print advertisement for a health insurance product that uses images of gay and lesbian people would be an important factor in their decision-making process when they considered a company’s health insurance products. Assuming factors such as price, quality, and convenience were not considerations, 78 percent of gay and lesbian respondents said they would be likely to consider an insurance provider or plan that was marketed specifically to the GLBT community.
chuckystud wrote:
The numbers don't surprise me. While many folks are highly successful, there's lot of folks that work in service jobs that just don't pay enough to sustain any good degree of health care / insurance. I think there's a lot of folks, too, that spend their money on things other than insurance. So...low incomes; different priorities, I think are more the culprit for that 25%, than joint coverage, and so on. Insurance is expensive, by anyone's standards. I think we should have a single payor system, with everyone being insured similar to the plans that have been in place in Europe since the late 1800s, and plans installed after World War II. A person shouldn't have to worry about losing everything because of an injury. More folks here, though, need to behave properly in their wellness promotion, too.
Aug 21 1:04 PM
RoughEdge wrote:
I can relate to this , I work as a freelance artist and my partner is a nurse but works for veterans hospital which is ferderally funded so they DO NOT recognise our domestic partnership , even now with same sex marrige laws comming into effect in ca , they still will not aknowledge it becouse federal law overturns state law
May 27 2:20 AM
cowboyathlete wrote:
This brief article on the survey ignores another likely culprit. Many gays and lesbians work in bars, clubs, and retail settings - i.e. small employers. Small employers are always hard pressed to offer health insurance.
May 20 11:54 AM
penguin wrote:
The majority of Canadian COmpanies offer exdented health insurance - in addition to basic Provinical Health coverage - SO provincial Health care presents no established barries for the gay individual. On the other hand, employer offered Extended Group Health Coverage presents with a barrier, in that the gay partner has to be identified, thus creating a challenge for some gay men.
I hope that the U.S. can one day offer free health care to ALL CITIZENS - it is a BASIC HUMAN NEED and no, it will not break the U.S. in finances - spend less on war and take care of your people at home first. - CHEERS!
May 20 3:56 AM