is a board-certified family medicine specialist and associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and she specializes in caring for transgender people. Pickle attributes these behaviors to implicit bias, societal cues and lack of training among HCPs.“When somebody’s not using your chosen name and not using your pronouns, it demonstrates a lack of respect,” Pickle said.
“It just speaks to how disenfranchised many minority communities feel by healthcare in general,” Monge said. “Building a space that is nonjudgmental and meets people where they are in terms of their healthcare needs really goes a long way to ultimately improving their health.” Barriers are further compounded for LGBTQ people of color and members of other marginalized groups. Pickle noted that for a Black transgender woman who experiences racism and gender bias, layers of discrimination are additive and inseparable.
Overall, 30% of LGBTQ people struggled to pay medical bills compared to 19% of non-LGBTQ respondents, and that figure was worse for LGBTQ women than for LGBTQ men .