Report calls for Medicaid, Social Security changes for LGBT seniors

The Los Angeles Times: A report released Wednesday at a national meeting on aging asks lawmakers to consider changes to Medicaid and Social Security rules that could help gay and lesbian senior citizens. Prepared by Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE), " it calls on federal and state lawmakers to consider ways to legally recognize same-sex relationships so aging partners in a committed relationship can have access to the same support systems that benefit heterosexual seniors. That would include Social Security survivor benefits and the rights of same-sex partners to make medical decisions for each other."

The report, which has been endorsed by AARP and the American Society on Aging, also focuses on the social isolation or discrimination many LGBT senior citizens feel, which leads to many not accessing social services such as entering long-term care facilities. There are an estimated 3 million LGBT senior citizens in the country currently, a number expected to grow to 4 million in the next ten years (Huppke, 3/17).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.