ATLANTA, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A U.S. report found a lack of adequate health insurance coverage is associated with less access to care and poorer outcomes for cancer patients.
The report, by the American Cancer Society, said the uninsured are less likely to receive recommended cancer screening tests, are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage disease and have lower survival rates than those with private insurance for several cancers.
The researchers used data from the National Cancer Database, a hospital-based registry sponsored by the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, that collects information on patient insurance status.
For all cancer sites combined, patients who were uninsured were 1.6 times as likely to die in five years as those with private insurance, the report said. The relationship between access to care and cancer outcomes is particularly striking for several cancers which can be prevented or detected early such as breast and colorectal cancer. Individuals with health insurance were about twice as likely as those without health insurance to have had mammography or colorectal cancer screening.
The report appears in the January/February issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
