Access to Medical Insurance Has Big Influence on TreatmentJuly 2008
Earlier this year a report published in the
Journal of National Cancer Institute revealed that regardless of our
health insurance issues, deaths from four of the most common cancers in the U.S. had declined.
But now we're hearing that those declines are actually weighted, and at the bottom of it all access to medical insurance still predetermines when cancer is found, and how it is treated.
This week a second study was released by Society's Cancer Occurrence Office, which found that while deaths from lung, colorectal, prostate and breast cancer have declined from 1993 to 2001, it has almost exclusively done so for men and women who have college degrees.
How might a college degree impact cancer treatment? Simple: the more educated you are, the more likely you are to have health insurance. Right now more than 150 million Americans get their medical insurance coverage from their employer, and as premiums continue to rise, it's the higher paying jobs with bigger companies that can afford to offer coverage to employees.
Those who don't get a college degree are statistically going to make less money, and be less able to afford
medical insurance. This means they don't get access to the preventative care that can often catch, delay, or even prevent cancer altogether.
Facts on:
Health Insurance and Cancer
Did you know...
Cancer is the #2 killer in America today?
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These new findings coincide perfectly with similar news about cancer treatment that came out earlier this year, revealing that those who don't have health insurance are likely to find cancer in its later stages, making it harder to beat.
All in all, what we seem to be finding in each study is that so long as affordable health insurance isn't offered to everyone - whether through an employer or from an individual plan - there will be a disparity in who does and doesn't get top notch treatment for one of America's biggest killers.
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