Why the U.S. House's Health Reform Bill is Good News for Gay Rights

by Michael A. Jones

categories: LGBT Health Care, LGBT Rights and Politics

Published November 07, 2009 @ 11:33PM PT

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Rep. Nancy Pelosi made history this weekend, doing something that no politician has been able to do in the United States since...well, forever. Pelosi was able to work the U.S. House to pass a health reform bill, by a vote of 220-215, that brings this country closer to the precipice of national health care than we've ever been before.

Is the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962 by technical standards) perfect? Hardly, especially when it comes to reproductive rights. But the bill is historic, and it's a piece of legislation that LGBT rights supporters are celebrating for several good reasons. Among those reasons include provisions that categorize LGBT people as a "health disparities population," ensuring that down the road, data collection and grant programs can focus on health concerns uniquely experienced by the LGBT population in this country.

And that's only the tip of this good news iceberg.

The Human Rights Campaign's Backstory blog breaks this bill down as imperfect, but largely good for the LGBT rights movement. In addition to the health disparities language mentioned above, the bill will also end an unfair practice of taxing employer-provided domestic partner health benefits, allowing thousands upon thousands of LGBT people to obtain domestic partner health benefits for their partners and families without having to pay a tax penalty through the nose.

There are three other benefits of this bill that reflect well on how this piece of legislation helps advance LGBT rights. One, the bill incorporates a non-discrimination clause that prohibits the consideration of personal characteristics unrelated to the provision of health care. That likely means that LGBT people will be protected from discrimination in the health care system.

Two, the bill provides funding for comprehensive sex education programs. The word "comprehensive" is key there, because it means that sex-ed programs won't solely focus on abstinence like they've done for the past few years. Instead, they could potentially give students the knowledge they need to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies -- something that abstinence-only programs fail miserably at.

And finally, the bill will allow states to cover early HIV treatment under their Medicaid programs, a departure from a current policy that only allows states to use Medicaid funds once a patient develops full-blown AIDS.

*Whew* Who knew health care reform could be so important to the LGBT population!

For all of her faults, and for all of the faults that might still exist in this bill, Speaker Pelosi deserves mad props for getting this thing through the U.S. House. Pushing this thing through was an exercise in herding cats that hasn't been matched by any political leader in years. Now it's up to the U.S. Senate to decide whether history gets made, including whether these LGBT-friendly provisions stay in the bill.

It's not too early to say a little prayer for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, hoping that he can pull a Pelosi and deliver on this bill. Hubert Humphrey once said, "The Senate is a place filled with goodwill and good intentions, and if the road to hell is paved with them, then it's a pretty good detour." Clearly, goodwill and good intentions aren't going to deliver this bill to President Obama's desk.

But strong leadership will. Just ask Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

(Photo courtesy of Obama-Biden Transition Project's photostream on Flickr.)