A new survey found that LGBTQ Americans are twice as likely to experience discrimination in their health care.
The survey, conducted by KFF, found "LGBT adults are also twice as likely as non-LGBT adults to report negative experiences while receiving health care in the last three years, including being treated unfairly or with disrespect," the report found.
Thirty-three percent of LGBTQ adults reported negative experiences while receiving health care in the previous three years, compared to 15 percent of non-LGBTQ adults.
LGBTQ adults were also twice as likely to report a health care provider would assume something about them, suggest they were personally to blame for a health problem, ignore requests or questions or refuse to prescribe needed pain medication. Sixty-one percent of LGBTQ adults reported experiencing this treatment, compared to 31 percent of non-LGBTQ adults.
KFF found that adults of color reported discrimination at higher rates than white patients, but among LGBTQ adults, "these experiences appear to cut across racial and ethnic groups."
The survey found that LGBTQ Americans are more likely to say their mental health is "fair" or "poor" and say experiencing discrimination makes their mental health worse.
Nearly 70 percent of LGBTQ Americans who said their mental health was "fair" or "poor" also reported going without mental health services, despite needing those services, at least once in the prior three years.
The KFF survey was conducted June 6 through Aug. 14, 2023, among 6,292 adults across multiple languages.
