We Are Lucky

Here in the Northeast we are lucky that there are many doctors who accept trans patients but in the Midwest it is a different story,

Rural LGBT people struggle for health care
KSPR
By Jonathan Winston Jones special to CNN
POSTED Mar 05, 2015

A 2014 study from researchers at the University of Nebraska Omaha found that LGBT residents in the rural parts of the state have lower rates of health insurance coverage than their counterparts in urban areas.

Even when LGBT Nebraskans have health insurance, they struggle to find providers versed in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender heath care needs.

Research shows that LGBT individuals often experience health issues linked to being regular targets of discrimination or social stigma. Discrimination has been linked to higher rates of substance abuse, suicide and stress-related illnesses, which can include heart problems, obesity, eating disorders and cancer.

If the available doctors are not familiar with the increased rates of these issues, they may provide inadequate care.

Patients who find their doctors do not understand their issues may also delay treatment, often with bad health outcomes, said Jay Irwin, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and a researcher in LGBT health.

Sometimes patients are turned away by providers who don't want to treat LGBT patients, particularly if there are no laws to prohibit such discrimination.

Here in Connecticut most of the medical schools now offer at least some training for medical students for LGBT issues, I am on a LGBT panel for second year med students at UConn and I have also been to Quinnipiac University, and I know of people who go to Yale for their school of medicine.