via Bilerico, by Paige Schilt
A Plea for Putting Health Care at the Center of Our Movement
This past Saturday, I received two telling pieces of mail.
The first was a thick package of postcards for the upcoming Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference at the Mazzoni Center.
The second was a doctor's bill. My wife, Katy, has rheumatoid arthritis. A cutting-edge generation of medicines has allowed her to manage the joint pain and degeneration, but the effectiveness of each new drug diminishes over time. Recently her doctor ordered a treatment that must be administered in-office. The cost of a single biweekly dose: $2800.
Perhaps it's an indication of how inured I am to health care crisis, but my first thought was, "We can address postcards while we wait on hold to haggle with the doctor's office."
Activists who work on marriage equality are frequently encouraged to share their stories. But marriage equality will not fix my family's health care problems, nor will it fix the health care disparities faced by most of my communities. So today, as I look forward to National LGBT Health Awareness Week (March 8-14), I want to talk about why I am beginning to shift the focus of my activism to health care access.
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