LGBT individuals often face barriers to obtaining affordable and necessary health care. With the Affordable Care Act (ACA) soon to be implemented, many of your supporters are probably asking you questions about how the law will impact their access to health care.

The National Women’s Law Center has released a helpful fact sheet, LGBT Americans and the Affordable Care Act, that can provide you with answers to questions your members might have.

Here are just a few examples of how the Affordable Care Act will impact LGBT people:

• The law calls for national data collection efforts to include questions about sexual orientation and gender identity—as a result, it will be easier to identify and understand the health care challenges faced by the LGBT community.
• Beginning in 2014, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition, a critical provision for transgender people who are commonly denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. Before 2014, uninsured individuals with pre-existing conditions can access coverage through new pre-existing condition insurance pools.
• Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, gender identity, and sex stereotypes.
• The ACA supports the development of cultural competency standards and training for providers, to help ensure that patients of varying background have access to high quality, culturally competent care. The ACA also creates a National Strategy for Quality Improvement, which will help address health disparities for underserved communities, such as the LGBT community.

Click here to learn more about ACA, and use this fact sheet as a resource for your organization.