LGBTQ+ people are likely to face discrimination when seeking cancer care About 20% of people live in a state where it’s legal to refuse care to LGBTQ+ people These groups also are at higher cancer risk FRIDAY, May 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- While LGBTQ+ people have higher risk factors for cancer, they are apt to face discrimination when in need of high-quality medical care, a new report shows. In particular, LGBTQ+ people have to worry that a health care provider will refuse to treat them due to their gender identity and sexual orientation, the American Cancer Society (ACS) report says. That concern is particularly valid for the 20% of the U.
S. population who reside in one of nine states where it is legal to refuse care to LGBTQ+ people, the ACS noted. Those states have “conscience clauses” that allow medical staff and insurers to deny care based on their personal or religious beliefs.
“One of the biggest take-aways from our report is that LGBTQ+ people are probably at higher risk for cancer, yet experience multiple barriers to high-quality healthcare access like discrimination and shortfalls in provider knowledge of their unique medical needs,” said senior study author Rebecca Siegel , senior scientific director for cancer surveillance at the ACS. “Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to prevent and detect cancer early, which is why it’s so important to remove these roadblocks for this population,” Siegel added in an ACS news release. The report, titled C.
