Sex workers are loving Obamacare

(UPI) -- Sex workers are one group embracing the Affordable Care Act, saying healthcare is finally in their grasp.

Sex workers are often considered risky, and for many, affordable healthcare has been out of reach.

A broad term, 'sex worker' can refer to sexual massage, prostitution, escort and kink work. Many sex workers consider themselves to be self-employed, or in some cases, entrepreneurs.

Paid in cash and off the books, many sex workers make less than $45,000 a year, meaning that Obamacare subsidies could help offset the cost of insurance.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, prominent sex worker and online personality "Siouxsie Q" recently organized an event, dubbed a "Healthy Ho's Party," to encourage fellow sex workers to enroll in Obamacare. About 40 men and women attended, and most filled out enrollment paperwork.

Siouxsie, 28, and her partner had trouble finding an affordable insurance plan before Obamacare.

"We just couldn't swing [insurance] in the Bay Area -- we're lower middle class, recent college graduates, in Startup Land trying to make our way." Now, under the Affordable Care Act, she and her partner have two plans to choose from.

The Affordable Care Act requires insurers cover contraception, screening for STDs, and violence counseling, all of which are particularly useful to sex workers.

"I really do think access to healthcare should be a human right, and I've been so brainwashed to think it's such a privilege," said "Maxine Holloway," a sex worker.

Another woman at the party said she understands why critics may not want to subsidize sex workers accessing healthcare.

But ultimately, "their tax dollars are going into other programs that deal with the aftermath of not having healthcare," Holloway said. "We're paying for it anyways, and we're paying for it in a way that people still get sick and still die."