| The following article features coverage from the Society of Gynecologic Oncology 2018 meeting. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) reduced socioeconomic disparities in insurance status access among patients diagnosed with ovarian and cervical cancers, according to a presentation at the 2018 Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in New Orleans.1
The impact of the ACA on health insurance access among women diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer was previously unestablished. For this study, the authors evaluated data from patients diagnosed with cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer to determine whether the ACA improved insurance access in patients living in Medicaid expansion (ES) vs non-expansion states (NES).
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Data were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. All of the included 52,917 patients were diagnosed between 2011 and 2014; the age range was 18 to 64 years.
Ethnic minorities and patients living in poorer areas were more likely to live in an NES and to be uninsured. After implementation of the ACA, the percentage of uninsured patients dropped more in ES (from 6% to 3%) than in NES (from 11.5% to 10%; P = .017).
Uninsured African American patients living in an ES were more likely to receive Medicaid coverage than those in an NES (P = .0005). Patients living in a high-poverty area in an ES saw a greater reduction in uninsured rates (from 6% to 2%) vs patients in a high-poverty area in an NES (from 14% to 13%; P = .009).
While reduction in uninsured rates were found among African American patients with ovarian cancer and among patients with cervical cancer in high-poverty areas in ES, no reduction was noted among patients with uterine cancer.
The authors concluded that African American “and poorer patients are more likely to be uninsured and live in a state that has opted not to expand Medicaid. States that have implemented the ACA Medicaid expansion reduced socioeconomic disparities in access to insurance, with a trend toward reductions in racial disparities with cervical and ovarian primaries.”
Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology 2018 meeting by visiting the conference page.
Reference
- Moss HA, Havrilesky LJ, Chino J. The Affordable Care Act reduced racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to health insurance among women diagnosed with a gynecologic malignancy. Oral presentation at: 2018 Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer; March 24-27, 2018; New Orleans, LA.
