Health Reform as a Queer Issue - Word!

Check out this awesome post at the similarly awesome blog RH Reality Check! Blogger Katherine Franke gives the quick & dirty version of why a health care system that ties insurance to employment and marriage status isn't so queer-friendly.

This just makes me think about how important genuine systemic change is if we really want healthier people (and not just more people with health insurance, although that would be great too!). Studies show that simply having universal access to care alone does NOT fix the disparities in health that people of color, those of "low socioeconomic status," and others experience. As you can imagine, there is a sad lack of data about these disparities for various segments of the LGBTQ community, but I've got a hunch the same is true for us. You know how they say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure? Access to healthcare is like the cure. It's great, and when you're sick, of course you want it - but maybe what we really need is prevention, to change the messed up, homophobic, sexist, racist world that's making us sick to begin with. And while I still have a lot of love for Obama, it seems to me right now that the health care debate has been stuck in the same rut for months and we'll be lucky if we even get an ounce of the cure out of it.

(And btw, RH Reality Check is a fabulous source of information & analysis related to reproductive health that is refreshingly not too heterocentric. Highly recommended!)