LGBTQ+ adults more likely to miss or forgo healthcare, survey finds

LGBTQ+ adults are more likely than other adults to miss healthcare appointments due to cost or other reasons — with a third reporting their health worsened as a result, according to a new survey by health policy research group KFF.

Among the 2,640 LGBTQ+ adults surveyed, those who are transgender, younger than 30 and those with lower incomes or without insurance were most likely to miss or forgo care due to cost. Over three-quarters of uninsured LGBTQ+ adults reported missing needed healthcare, according to the survey.

Overall, 6 in 10 of the adults surveyed reported missing needed healthcare in the past year due to cost, being unable to find a provider with available appointments or other reasons, compared with 38% of non-LGBTQ+ adults. Transgender adults, who made up 9% of those surveyed, were the most likely to report missing care.

Along with being more likely to postpone or skip needed care, 22% of LGBTQ+ adults reported forgoing prescription medications due to cost, compared with 12% of non-LGBTQ+ adults. Almost a third — 30% — also reported struggling to pay medical bills, compared with about a fifth of other adults.

Three in 10 LGBTQ+ adults say their health got worse because they skipped or delayed care, nearly twice the share of non-LGBTQ+ adults. This was more common among LGBTQ+ women than men — 63% of women compared with 46% of men.

Among transgender adults, nearly half — 45% — said their health worsened.

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Insurance denials were also more likely. Thirty-two percent of insured LGTBQ+ adults reported denials by insurance companies, compared with just over a fifth of non-LGTBQ+ adults. Denials or delays in care, prescriptions or treatments were also more pronounced among trans adults as well as those covered by Medicaid or a self-purchased insurance plan.

The survey also looked at care among different age groups. While younger adults in general are more likely to forgo care, LGBTQ+ people had an especially high rate in the survey. LGBTQ+ adults under age 30 were 20 percentage points more likely to report forgoing care than non-LGBTQ+ adults of the same age group, according to the report. Those gaps narrow when it comes to adults over age 65, which could be because of Medicare eligibility, the researchers wrote.

The report noted that LGBTQ+ people are, in general, younger than the overall U.S. population. They are also more likely to have lower incomes, and somewhat more likely to lack insurance coverage, the authors wrote. The survey findings might reflect those  disparities, rather than LGBTQ+ identity, “though those factors are certainly intertwined,” they noted.

Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at [email protected].