Cancer Survival and Health Insurance: Is There a Connection?

SYNOPSIS

This paper explores the statistical data related to health insurance and cancer survival rates. A description of different health insurance options is covered, as well as disparities that are associated with these choices. It attempts to make the connection between certain demographic groups and their health insurance options and eventual choices and how these individuals fared if ever diagnoses with cancer. Most studies outlines in this paper studied more than one type of cancer so as to provide a clearer picture from many angles.

Introduction

There has long been suspicion that the correlation between health insurance and better health care are undeniable. In reality, not only is the presence of insurance believed to allow the patient to fare better, but the better the insurance, the better the outcome. Generally, insurance is provided either through employer-based programs, government programs (i.e. Medicare, State Children’s Health Insurance Plan, Medicaid, etc.) or private (nongroup) insurance (Ward, Halpern, Schrag, Cokkinides, DeSantis, Bandi, Siegel, Stewart and Jemal, 2008). Insurance Descriptions

Employer-Based
With employer-based programs, participants are either employees of a company or a family member of an employee of a company. In 2006, 62% of insured individuals obtained insurance through their employers. While employer-based insurance plans offer some advantages, there are some serious disadvantages to these plans. Not all employees choose to participate, whether it is purely by choice or because of inability to pay, which could lead to problems should these employees be diagnosed with cancer. Most tragically, if the insured employees do develop cancer, they may be at risk of losing their employment which of course would lead to losing their health insurance. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, leaves them with an often unaffordable option to maintain health insurance. It is usually very costly, particularly when one factors in their loss of income from the unemployment (Ward, et al, 2008). Government Programs

Medicare
For most Americans over 65 years of age, Medicare is the automatic health insurance option, given they’ve paid into Medicare for at least 10 years. Upon their 65th birthday, enrollment in Medicare Part A is automatic if the individual is eligible for social security benefits (Ward, et al., 2008). Medicare Part A only covers hospital visits, which warrants the need or Medicare Part B. Part B covers physician services, diagnostic tests, outpatient care, specific preventative services ...

-2 -64 /login?url=http /login?url=http 0 10 103 11.8 13.2 133 14 1409 1415 15 1712 1718 18 19 1997 1999 2 20 200 2000 2002/2003 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 21 287 3 34 40.8 45 5 50 54 60 600 61st 62 65 65th 784 790 91 a298 abl absenc access act addit adequ administ adult advanc advantag advic affluent afford african african-american age aid al allow also although american among angl anoth anyth appar appear appoint approxim arch arrang asian/pacific assist associ astronom attempt automat away ay ayanian b back bandi base basi becom believ beneficiari benefit best better bias birthday bradley breast budget c call canada cancer cancer-screen cannot carcinoma care case caught certain cervic chanc chang chen children chiriko chirimo choic choos citizen cj claim clear clearer close cobra code cokkinid coleman colorect columbia come committe commod comorbid compani compar comparison comprehens conclud conclus condit conduct congress connect conserv consid consolid continent conveni correl cost could counterpart countri cours cover coverag cut cw d data date day death deduct demograph desanti descript desir detect determin develop diagnos diagnosi diagnost die differ differenti diploma disabl disadvantag diseas dispar district doesn drew due e earli earlier effect either elder element elig employ employe employer-bas enrol establish et etc ethnic even eventu ever everyon evid examin exceed exist expand expens experienc explan explor ezproxy.umuc.edu ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http face facil facilit fact factor fair fall famili fare favor feder fee fee-for-servic fewer ffs field first fit follow follow-up ford found four frame frequent fund g gap gardin gender general get give given good govern great greater group guidelin h halpern have head health help high higher hispan hmo hmos hoars hold holder hospit howev i.e iezzoni ii iii import improv inabl inadequ includ incom increas incred inde individu inform inst instanc insur interest interview introduct island iv j jemal joint journal k kentucki know krischer l lack larg larger laryng later lead lead-tim least leav less level li lie like live long longer lose loss low low-incom lower m made main maintain mainten make mammogram manag mani marit may mccarthi mcdavid medic medicaid medicaid-insur medicar medicin melanoma member men might million month mortal move much n nation natl near neck need neighborhood ngo nm non non-high nongroup not note number object observ obtain occur offer often omnibus oncolog one opportun opt option organ otalgia otolaryngol outcom outlast outlin outpati p paid pal paper part particip particular patient pay payer/insurance peopl percentag person phone physician pictur place plan play pocket polici poor poorer poorer-qu popul poverti pre pre-exist precious predict predictor pregnant premium presenc present prevent primari privat problem program prostat provid provis pure qualifi qualiti r race radiat rang rank rate rather ratio realiti realli reason receiv recipi reconcili record refer regard registri relat requir resid respons retriev rg risk robert roetzheim role schip school schrag schwabe screen script secur see seek serious servic set sever show shown siegel sign signific similar simpli slogett social socioeconom sooner specif stage standard state statist status stewart studi subsequ subspecialti success suffer surg surgeri survey surviv suspicion symptom synopsi system take teaching/research tend tennant test therapi therefor therein thereof thus time total tragic treat treatment trend tucker tumor turn type typic u.s ultim unafford undeni undoubt unemploy uninsur unit upon use usual vari varieti ve verdict versus visit voic voti ward warrant way well wherea whether white wish within without women wors worsen would year yet younger zip