Health

The link between Medicaid and cancer survival


“What some researchers have done in the past is look at Medicaid and observe that people who are covered by Medicaid and diagnosed with cancer have terminal disease and mortality rates,” she said. higher. “What I can show is that Medicaid is really picking people who are uninsured or uninsured. They get diagnosed with cancer and enroll in Medicaid later. Then they get cancer. end-stage because they most likely didn’t have a disease health insurance would allow them to access screening and treatment before being diagnosed with cancer.”

In research recently published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Bradley also showed that cancer patients who were covered by Medicaid before diagnosis were just as likely to have private insurance.

“Ultimately, the message is that there must be continuity of insurance coverage for access to screening and care, preventing late-stage disease and high mortality,” she said.

Insurance outweighs income

Using data from the National Cancer Institute’s Registry of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results, linked to Medicaid enrollment data, Bradley looked at the link between Medicaid enrollment and stage distal stages of three types of cancer can be screened: breast, cervical, and colorectal. In addition to her general findings on the importance of continuity of coverage, she looked specifically at the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, an initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Epidemic provides free breast and cervical cancer screening to uninsured or uninsured low-income women. people who do not have enough income to qualify for Medicaid initially.

“Providers can also be reimbursed at a lower rate than regular Medicaid. What I can show is breast and cervical cancer screening programs – have saved lives. thousand people – worse than having continuous insurance Because these women, even though they have a slightly higher income, it’s not the income that makes the difference. It’s health insurance .”

Call for insurance

Not surprisingly, Bradley’s article ended with a call for more insurance options for people on lower incomes. The Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014, expanded Medicaid eligibility, but many states have chosen not to expand, setting their income thresholds much lower than federal guidelines allow.

“Medicaid has gotten an undeservedly bad rap. I’m sure Medicaid would rather have patients before diagnosis or early stage and care for them than spend a lot of money and have them die,” Bradley said . “Although the states that expanded Medicaid have significantly reduced the number of uninsured people, there are still more than 12 million people who are not eligible for Medicaid and remain uninsured. And those are the people most vulnerable to diagnosis in the United States. the latest stage . . . ”

The link between HIV and cancer

A trained economist, Bradley has a longstanding interest in insurance and Medicaid and how they affect people diagnosed with cancer. In “A Little Precaution: The Role of Medicaid in Reducing Cancer Burden in Men with HIV,” a recent editorial in the journal Cancer, She explains how people living with HIV are more likely to get some cancers. Thanks to new treatments, many of these people are expected to live long lives and will have to be treated for cancer, and since many of them are also covered by Medicaid, there are ways, she said. New approaches to public health practice and policy.

“Cancer drugs can be super expensive, and we have to think about this complex care to give people with both conditions, when 20-30 years ago, you might have had,” she said. died from either of those drugs,” she said. “Now both have become chronic, and the cost of drugs for both of these conditions is very expensive.”

To avoid these costs, she said, more emphasis should be placed on prevention through vaccination and HPV screening. Measures to control drug costs will also be needed as the population grows.

Source: Eurekalert



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