March 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 3
Financial, legal barriers plague many same-sex partners
Mary S. loses her cashier job -- and her health benefits -- because of "downsizing" at the local hardware store. Luckily, her husband is able to add her to his health insurance policy through his employer, a car dealership.
Across town, Joanne R. loses her job at the waterworks plant. Her partner of 17 years, Lynette T., also works at the car dealership. But when she attempts to add Joanne to her health plan, she's greeted with an unequivocal, if sympathetic, "no."
It's a common scenario: Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals routinely suffer discrimination in housing, employment and basic civil rights, says family physician Ronald Falcon, M.D., of Minneapolis, a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.
In the health care arena, such disparate treatment can have devastating consequences. Health insurers often refuse to extend to committed gay and lesbian couples the same benefits that married heterosexual couples regularly receive. Instructions documented in a GLBT patient's durable power of attorney for health decisions that name a same-sex partner as the decision-maker are frequently overruled by the patient's biological family.
It's another facet of GLBT health that is being targeted by the GLMA, says Falcon. "Physicians should look beyond their responsibilities to these patients in the office setting," he notes. "Physicians need to advocate on their patients' behalf in all aspects of the health care experience."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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