Health Insurance Disparity between Heterosexual and Homosexual Women

Heili Pals, University of Central Florida
Warren Waren, University of Central Florida

We propose to take a closer look at whether the rate of health insurance coverage among lesbian and heterosexual women differs nationally. We use the 2009 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (ACS PUMS) to measure coverage among lesbians, taking into account different types of health insurance. Using the ACS data we address new research questions, such as regional and racial variation in health insurance coverage. Regional variation in health insurance rates between lesbian and heterosexual women can indicate whether and how much the differences in health insurance legislation can change the disparity. Also, ACS data permit us to estimate interaction effects between race and sexual orientation, thus allowing to gauge whether the disparity between lesbian and heterosexual women is greater among minority racial groups than it is among whites.