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Study Shows Health Care Disparities In Missouri LGBT Community

Illustration by Tracey O’Donnell

If you are a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered Missourian your chances of finding and getting the same level of health care as the rest of the state are significantly reduced.

According to a new study by the Missouri Foundation for Health, if you’re LGBT, you’re more likely to face conditions including heart disease, asthma, obesity, smoking-related illness, substance abuse and depression.

Wednesday on Up to Date, guest host Suzanne Hogan welcomes Ryan Barker of the Missouri Foundation for Health and Steven Lowman from the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, to discuss the health needs of the LGBT population in Missouri.  We’ll examine what causes the disparities between LGBT and heterosexual Missourians, and look at recommended policies that can promote health equity.

MORE INFORMATION:

Read the Missouri Foundation for Health's report here.

Gay & Lesbian Medical Association Provider List

Ryan Barker, MSW, MPPA is the Director of Health Policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH). He joined the Foundation in 2002 and assisted in the establishment and growth of the Health Policy area at MFH. In the last 9 years his research has focused on issues such as Missouri’s Medicaid program, increasing health equity, and strategies to provide quality, affordable health coverage to all Missourians. Before joining MFH, Ryan worked at The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati focusing on program evaluation and grantmaking in the area of severe mental illness. Before entering the foundation world, Ryan was a clinical social worker with runaway and homeless youth at social service agencies in Cincinnati, Ohio and Portland, Oregon. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work in the Institute for Public Health. Ryan obtained a Bachelor in Science from Xavier University, a Master in Social Work from the University of Cincinnati, and a Master in Public Policy Administration from the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

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As senior producer of Up To Date, I want our listeners to hear familiar and new voices that shine light on the issues and challenges facing the myriad communities KCUR serves, and to expose our audiences to the wonderful and the creative in the Kansas City area. Just as important to me is an obligation to mentor the next generation of producers to ensure that the important conversations continue. Reach me at alexanderdk@kcur.org.
Every part of the present has been shaped by actions that took place in the past, but too often that context is left out. As a podcast producer for KCUR Studios and host of the podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, I aim to provide context, clarity, empathy and deeper, nuanced perspectives on how the events and people in the past have shaped our community today. In that role, and as an occasional announcer and reporter, I want to entertain, inform, make you think, expose something new and cultivate a deeper shared human connection about how the passage of time affects us all. Reach me at hogansm@kcur.org.