FACT SHEET: LGBTQ+ Older Adults Can’t Afford Cuts to Medicaid
Medicaid is a lifeline for LGBTQ+ older people. Over 7 million low-income older people age 65+ are enrolled in Medicaid, including at least 1.2 million LGBTQ+ older people. Medicaid is the only option for paid home-based care, and fills in gaps in Medicare coverage. It also helps LBGTQ+ older people who are under age 65 or otherwise not eligible for Medicare access basic health care. Any cuts to Medicaid hurt LGBTQ+ older people by preventing them from accessing necessary healthcare at a time when they need it the most.
SAGE strongly opposes cuts to Medicaid, whether they be in the form of funding restrictions or the implementation of onerous red tape measures. Cutting federal funding to Medicaid would shrink Medicaid for everyone, but the effects would be especially significant for LGBTQ+ older people.
As one SAGE Program Participant put it:
Medicaid is vitally important to me as a senior whose primary income is Social Security…It provides fundamental and urgent healthcare which enables me to continue a productive life. In times when I’ve needed care from a fall, oral surgery, or urgent medical attention due to COVID, Medicaid provided co-pays, prescriptions, and follow-up care. Without these services, my existence would have been even more of a burden on the economy. As a result of the preventive care and immediate care that Medicaid provides, I can still be productive and contribute to society. Medicaid’s Long-Term Care benefit is not available from other insurance, which makes it a very special plan necessary for our aging population. Medicaid speaks to the humanity of a country that cares for its people.
–Deborah S., New York, SAGE Program Participant
Read more about the sweeping implications of Medicaid cuts for LGBTQ+ older people in our recent fact sheet, created in collaboration with Justice in Aging.
