The Importance of Getting the Care You Need: S.C.'s Story

SC is a transgender individual who has worked for companies like the Walt Disney corporation in catering and the culinary arts. He ended his employment with Disney in 2021 to create a small business and is now attending college full time. He was uninsured until he reached out to an ACA Navigator.

SC stated that at 26 and no longer able to be covered by his parents’ health insurance, “I’m not 22 anymore and I can’t go 36 hours on a Red Bull and a Twinkie.”

His navigator not only assisted him in finding affordable care through the marketplace, but also helped identify practices that cater to the LGBTQ community.

“The coverage I now have is helping me to be healthier and provide some level of security because I can be diligent and consistent in receiving my care.”

He says as a child growing up in a Christian conservative military family, he knew something just wasn’t right. He didn’t fit; he didn’t know what a lesbian was until he was 14 and didn’t meet his first transgender person until he was in his 20s.

The transgender community is being shaken to its core in Florida worrying about access to medicines and being denied gender affirming care. SC says, “I am worried that I won’t be able to talk to my doctor on the phone, but I’ll have to drive over two hours to meet in person to receive my prescriptions because of one of the Florida legislatures anti-LGBTQ bills.”

He says, “if I had one wish it would be that our governor woke up tomorrow as a woman and had people calling him she or her and yet he KNOWS he’s a man.”

The Affordable Care Act, and its navigators across the state of Florida are assisting individuals like SC to find affordable coverage enabling them to receive the care and medications they need to lead healthier lives.

Get free assistance from a qualified local Florida navigator at www.coveringflorida.org