Prioritizing Trans Health Equity on TDOV

As part of my health equity advocacy work, I recently met Rex Wilde , an expert on gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace who runs a monthly TGX+ Inclusion Roundtable event. I was delighted to attend and see the diversity of small and large companies that participated in engaging, informative, and sometimes provocative conversations. Thanks to Rex and their network, I have been staying more informed and connected to TGX+ (trans and gender-expansive) social justice challenges and opportunities.?

Today, March 31, we celebrate the International Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV), started in 2009 by Rachel Crandall Crocker, a trans community advocate, to position TGX culture in a positive light and empower people to be the most authentic versions of themselves. Isn’t it really all any of us want? So, I think it’s a good day to extend this awareness opportunity to also advocate for TGX health equity.?

Transgender Healthcare Disparities

Due to discrimination, not every trans person is safe or feels comfortable being visible. This, plus a lack of TGX-specific program funding and a shortage of providers with sufficient knowledge about transgender health, exacerbates healthcare disparities for this community.?

Examples of the obstacles and impacts we see include:

Bias Driven:

• Transgender patients are more likely to delay seeking timely treatment
• Experience delays in disease diagnosis resulting from lack of comprehensive health screening support
• Regularly encounter abuse, neglect and lack of healthcare prevention or follow-up support

Financial obstacles:?

• Many insurance providers fail to cover costs of essential health services, including hormone prescriptions and mental health care
• Complex and unclear payment frameworks result in coverage denials and uncovered expenses for this group with unique needs
• Of all groups, transgender people, making up nearly 9% of the US population, have the highest poverty rates in the US (29% vs 16% for straight and cis-gender individuals)

Health Outcomes:

• Transgender people experience higher rates of chronic healthcare conditions, including mental health issues, substance issues, asthma and general poor physical health
• They are at greater risk of experiencing sexual trauma or physical violence
• Trans individuals are 4 times more likely to experience suicide attempts than cis-gender heterosexual counterparts

Like with most #healthcaredisparities, these disparities are even more pronounced with TGX+ communities of color.?

How can you help improve the patient experience for trans people?

A National Library of Medicine (NLM) study cites improving cultural competence as a crucial solution to improving health equity for the trans community. With this in mind, I encourage healthcare organizations and providers to educate themselves and their teams on best practices for caring for TGX+ healthcare needs and to strive to improve health equity for members of this community.?

Cultural Competency Resources:

• UCSF Center for Excellence for Transgender Health?
• Human Rights Campaign Provider Resources - Caring for Transgender Patients?
• LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center: Guide to Affirmative Care for Transgender and Gender?Non-Conforming People
• Institute of Medicine Guide to The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People

#internationaltransgenderdayofvisibility #tdov #transgenderhealthcare #transgenderequality #sdoh #healthequity

Reference Items:

https://www.hrc.org/resources/the-wage-gap-among-lgbtq-workers-in-the-united-states

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-protecting-advancing-health-care-transgender-adult-communities/

https://www.morningstar.com/sustainable-investing/50-must-know-statistics-about-income-wealth-lgbtq-people

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/protecting-advancing-health-care-transgender-adult-communities/#Ca=10

https://auth.myadlm.org/cln/articles/2024/marchapril/the-what-why-and-how-of-gender-cultural-competency

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4802845/