Cancer Diagnosis linked to Insurance Status

A study has found that people who do not have health insurance or Medicaid insurance have a higher risk of developing a cancer than the ones having private insurance. The reason for this is thought to be the late diagnosis of the cancer.

The study was led by Dr. Michael Halpern of the American Cancer Society. The researchers examined the data on 3.7 million Americans diagnosed with 12 common types of cancer between 1998 and 2004.

Medicaid is a state-federal program that helps pay for health care for low-income people, the disabled and some others. Individual states determine who is eligible and what services are covered under the insurance.

The main reason for this increasing trend is believed to be that most of the people do not undertake routine screenings for various types of cancer. This way the disease gets undetected for a long time and it can’t be treated later because in its early stages it is most treatable and least deadly.

"We consistently found across a wide variety of cancers that uninsured individuals and those covered by Medicaid were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease," Halpern said.

"And this was especially true for the cancers that could be diagnosed early by screening, like colorectal cancer, or have symptoms early in disease like bladder cancer," Halpern added.

The greatest increase in risk of more advanced stage diagnosis was for the cancer sites that are part of routine screening like breast, colorectal or sites with symptoms present at early stages like melanoma and urinary bladder.

The researchers also observed that blacks had even a higher risk of late diagnosis, even if the high rates of their being uninsured and underinsured are accounted.

The researchers believe the lack of health literacy and an inadequate supply of providers in minority communities might be the reasons for this.

Medicaid patients also had significantly increased risks of presenting with more advanced stage disease compared to patients with private insurance for many cancer sites as the private insurance gives them the opportunity to have more tests done at a regular basis.

“There’s evidence that not having insurance increases suffering,” said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the American Cancer Society’s chief medical officer.

The government estimates there are 47 million people without health insurance U.S. Health care is a prominent issue in the U.S. presidential campaign this time.