Patient advocates are urging Connecticut lawmakers to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ and intersex patients, in the face of federal funding cuts.
The discussion was part of an health care expert advisory group at state comptroller Sean Scanlon’s annual health cabinet recommendations meeting in Hartford Monday.
“Patients are afraid of their privacy and medical records and prescription history, providers have to consider out-of-state legal and professional consequences simply for delivering evidence-based care,” said Dr. Siri Daulaire, an emergency department physician at Middlesex Hospital, and co-chair of Scanlon’s LGBTQI+ health care subcommittee.
She also advised lawmakers to make changes to the Connecticut prescription drug monitoring program. There is a growing need, she said, to limit “unnecessary reporting” of medications used in gender-affirming care “when it does not improve patient safety and increases privacy risk.”
Stronger shield laws are required to protect doctors offering gender care, Daulaire said , and she called for electronic medical record protections to be updated to prevent patient data from getting into the hands of federal investigators.
Mitigating risk for SNAP and Medicaid recipients
Nonprofit providers also asked Connecticut lawmakers to create a way to notify people if their SNAP or Medicaid benefits were at risk as a result of federal changes to work requirements.
“What we're hearing is that folks are like, ‘Oh, it doesn't apply to me,’ said Ayesha Clarke, executive director for Health Equity Solutions and
co-chair of urban health care in Scanlon’s health cabinet.
“However, we know that this is not true, and so it's important to ensure that we have a dashboard or a creation of communication to ensure that those who will be impacted will understand the changes and ensure that they do not lose coverage.”
Clarke said of the 336,000 individuals receiving SNAP statewide, around 2,000 residents could potentially risk losing benefits due to the new work requirements.
Funding health care workforce
Karen Buckley, vice president of advocacy at the Connecticut Hospital Association, and co-chair of the health cabinet’s workforce subcommittee, recommended establishing a dedicated line item in the state budget, with bond authorizations of an initial investment of $100 million to be spent over three years, with continued investment in subsequent years, toward health care workforce development.
Buckley also urged expanding the “lending capacity for undergraduate and graduate students to provide affordable financing options for students to access various health profession programs, and that's in response to some of the federal changes we've seen.”
State lawmakers re-convened in a short session earlier this month.
