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 Survey: 1 In 4 Gays Lack Health Insurance
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 19, 2008 - 3:00 pm ET
(Washington) Nearly one in four gay and lesbian adults lack health insurance and are nearly
twice as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to have no health insurance
coverage according to a new national survey released Monday.
The online survey, conducted by Harris
Interactive, found that 22 percent of gay and lesbian survey respondents
reported having no health insurance, compared to only 12 percent of
heterosexual adults in the survey.
The survey was taken between April 7 and 15, 2008 in
conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications.
Health insurance has emerged as a major issue in
this year's presidential campaign. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama
have similar plans although Clinton's would make having insurance
mandatory. Republican John McCain has proposed tax credits to allow people
to buy insurance.
The United States is the only industrialized
country without universal health insurance.
When
asked about factors that influence their likelihood to consider specific
health insurers, 85 percent of gay and lesbian adults said that it
was important to them that the health insurance company provide domestic
partner health coverage for companies to whom they supply health insurance.
Also,
79 percent of gay and lesbian adults reported that seeing a print
advertisement for a health insurance company that provides information about
insurance products and speaks to gay persons with images of gay and lesbian
people would be an important factor on their likelihood of considering the
company's health insurance products.
Assuming factors such as price, quality,
and convenience were not considerations, nearly 8 out of 10 gay
and lesbian respondents said they would be likely to consider an insurance
provider or plan that was marketing to the LGBT community and 67 percent said
they would be likely to consider a health insurer if they knew that the agent
selling the health insurance plan also was openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgender.
"We
know the problem of the uninsured has reached crisis proportions in this
country and, unfortunately, this survey shows that the gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender community is today at greater risk," said Peter Francel
of insurance company Aetna, which has maintained a 100% score
on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index since 2002.
"What LGBT
households and all Americans deserve and need is affordable access to quality
health care that results in positive outcomes and facilitates prevention,
wellness and chronic care coordination," Francel added.
©365Gay.com 2008
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