Community groups around the state have been holding events to educate people about the Affordable Care Act, but Utah Pride is trying something different Wednesday to reach their target demographic - healthcare happy hour.
How do you convince young people that they need health insurance? Maybe you meet them at Salt Lake City’s Club Jam for 3-dollar Wine Wednesday. That’s the approach that Utah Pride is trying this week. Deann Armes helps lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients navigate the health insurance marketplace. She says holding an information session at a bar is one piece of their outreach efforts.
“It can be hard to get people to come to a healthcare event. Sometimes rather than having people come to us, it’s easier to go where they are,” Armes says. “Our demographic is young people; they’re more likely to be uninsured, and the LGBT community is more likely to be uninsured, so we’re going out to them.”
Armes says the LGBT population is more likely to be unemployed, have lower income, and suffer from mental health issues or substance abuse. She says transgender people in particular have trouble because some insurance companies refuse to take them on. They are sometimes classified as having a pre-existing condition, but that should change with the Affordable Care Act.
The event takes place Wednesday at 6pm at Club Jam. An expert from Planned Parenthood will speak about navigating the health insurance marketplace.
There will be a more general healthcare open house Saturday at Salt Lake City’s Sorenson Unity Centerwith a variety of experts who can provide information about the Affordable Care Act.