Warm up
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- What industry do you work in and what is your role?
- What are your responses in your role / position?
- Can you describe to the function of your workplace / company?
- How many departments, how many offices. National or International?
- What are the minimum requirements for employment ie Education or Experience?
- How many opportunities are there to ‘move up the ladder’?
- What is the process for changing job roles ie Interview? Test?
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- Current projects? Deadlines? Opportunities?
- Anything of interest happening?
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1. This Pride Month, Americans are supposed to be celebrating LGBTQ+ contributions, rights, and freedoms. Along with parades and festivities, corporations are getting in on the celebration, cashing in on the LGBTQ+ market with Pride-themed gear and products tailored to transgender people.
2. But day-to-day life for many LGBTQ+ people is anything but a party, as evidenced by a survey released this month from MetroPlusHealth, a New York City-based health insurance company offering low-cost and subsidized health plans to more than 600,000 New Yorkers.
3. The survey of approximately 800 people in the New York metro area showed that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to feel vulnerable and anxious than people who do not identify as LGBTQ+. According to the survey, 81% of LGBTQ+ people reported feeling stressed, compared to just 58% of the general population. Almost the same proportion (79%) said they feel anxious about social situations, versus 53% of the general population.
Why do you think this number is so high? Do you think this situation is specific to New York?
4. About two-thirds (65%) said they feel unsafe walking the streets, compared to 40% of non-LGBTQ+ New Yorkers. Responses from LGBTQ+ people of color appear to demonstrate the added burdens faced by people in more than one marginalized group. More than half (55%) had been called a racial slur, compared to less than one-third of others, and 41% said they have experienced discrimination in the workplace, compared to just 28% of other respondents.
5. Though survey respondents were based solely in New York City, the results are consistent with other studies showing widespread discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans, including health insurance discrimination.
6. According to Dr. Sanjiv Shah, chief medical officer at MetroPlusHealth, the lessons from the survey extend beyond New York City, especially because the sample is so diverse. “NYC is not just a city, it is a world in itself,” Shah said. “There are universal themes that emerged from the pandemic—both LGBTQIA+ nationally and the general U.S. population—these include: negative impacts on mental health, greater anxiety, and delays in scheduling doctors’ visits.”
If you were working for the department of health in NY, specifically tasked with addressing the health of the LGBTQ+ community, what questions would you ask? What changes would you make?
7. The disparate impact of the pandemic on LGBTQ+ communities came through clearly in the survey results. Three-quarters of LGBTQ+ respondents said the pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health and 72% said it has hurt their physical health, compared with 54% and 51% of the general population, respectively.
8. Eight in ten (79%) of LGBTQ+ people surveyed reported feeling financial hardship compared to 54% of non-LGBTQ+ respondents. Though health inequities are far-reaching and expensive—and in need of broad societal responses—Shah believes health plans have an important role to play in addressing the adverse impact of discrimination.
9. According to Shah, the number-one thing health plans can and should do is to create safe, affirming environment for the LGBTQ+ community, starting with respecting members’ preferred pronouns and names. Though this practice may seem like a small matter to people outside the LGBTQ+ community, when insurers don’t recognize members’ identities, it can cause undue pain and strain.
