The following is a guest post from Lauren Clapp, who is a rising senior at Elon University in Elon, NC, studying Public Health and Human Services. Lauren also serves as the Advocacy/Education Chair of the queer-straight alliance at Elon, Spectrum.

Shortly after 10:00 am this morning, the Supreme Court upheld 2010’s Affordable Care Act (known by some as “Obamacare”) in a 5-4 decision that kept conservatives and progressives holding their breath until the last minute. The ACA, arguably one of the greatest legislative achievements of Obama’s presidency, has been hotly debated for months. The most controversial piece of the Act, known as the individual mandate, requires virtually every American to purchase health insurance, and pay a fine if they refuse. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA, including the individual mandate, means that we are one step closer to achieving affordable and quality health care for all Americans. While far from perfect, this sweeping legislation can, and after this morning’s decision, will, have important consequences for our nation’s LGBT community, particularly its youth.

Here are some quick facts about the thousand-page law. According to a report issued from the White House, the Affordable Care Act will:

• Eliminate all lifetime limits on how much insurance companies cover if beneficiaries get sick.
• Ban insurance companies from dropping people when they get sick.
• Provide tax credits to small businesses so they can offer competitive, affordable health care to their employees.
• Creates state insurance exchanges (think of a plane ticket search site, only for health insurance companies).
• Provide access to affordable insurance for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions through a temporary, subsidized high-risk pool, which will help protect them from medical bankruptcy.
• Allow youth to remain covered through their parents’ health insurance until the age of 26.
• Put aside funds to invest in data collection and research about health disparities in the United States.

According to a press release by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Act impacts LGBT health in a variety of ways including:

• Prohibiting sex discrimination in the healthcare system for the first time. Transgender people are now federally protected from discrimination when buying health insurance. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is also prohibited in the newly created state insurance exchanges.
• Requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to ask questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to national health surveys, which is a crucial step in gathering data about health disparities affecting LGBT people.
• Immediately prohibiting insurance companies from denying children coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and, starting in 2014, the law will prohibit insurance companies from denying adults coverage because of a pre-existing condition, excluding coverage of that condition, or charging more because of health status or gender (this is particularly important for transgender individuals, as well as the large proportion of the LGBTQ community that is HIV +).
• Allowing same-sex couple to search for health plans that offer coverage for domestic partners through the Health Plan Finder too at www.healthcare.gov.

Report after report from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Centers for Disease Control have shown the health disparities facing LGBT people in America. Low-income youth, people of color and transgender individuals are particularly vulnerable populations as they are more likely to be discriminated against, denied service or treatment at doctors offices, hospitals and emergency with medical professionals who are not trained to deal with specific issues affecting these individuals.

The bottom line is that with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, LGBT people, who are more likely to lose their jobs or homes and be discriminated against in medical settings, can still be guaranteed access to health insurance. Most significantly for LGBT youth, the ACA allows coverage under a parent’s health insurance till the age of 26, eliminates barriers to health care for youth with pre-existing conditions, including mental health issues, and, for the first time in our nation’s history, protects against discrimination based on sex in healthcare.

However, the ACA was not passed in its entirety, and one important omission may have devastating results for our community. The Supreme Court ruled to limit the expansion of Medicaid, which provides access to health insurance for low-income and sick people. While more than 30 million Americans will now be able to afford health insurance, this is a reality that will not be achieved by the neediest members of our nation without further reform. The Affordable Care Act is an important first step to making healthcare more fair in the United States and closing the gap on LGBT health disparities- let’s not let it stop here.