Baldwin calls for LGBTQ info to be included in mental health data

Sen. Tammy Baldwin is reintroducing legislation that will include questions of sexual orientation and gender identity in government surveys to get a better sense of how the health care crisis is affecting LGBTQ groups.

Baldwin (D-Wis.) said during POLITICO’s Health Summit on Wednesday that current surveys do not ask questions about sexual orientation or gender identity, leaving a large gap in data that is needed to support additional federal spending on the LGBTQ’s community’s needs.

“It helps us make our arguments for greater resources and greater services,” Baldwin told POLITICO’s Eugene Daniels during a session.

But whether there will be greater resources is in doubt as Baldwin chafed at the spending caps for the next two years negotiated as part of the debt ceiling deal.

“We know costs are up, so those dollars won’t be spread as far,” said Baldwin, who chairs the health appropriations subcommittee.

Baldwin also called for filibuster reform to get passage of laws, such as the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would reestablish the nationwide right to abortion. She conceded, though, that it will be “difficult at this particular moment to get filibuster reform.”

Her state has had a law on the books since 1849 that she described as a “criminal abortion ban.”

“Lawyers should not be practicing medicine” and that’s what is happening in my state, she said.