Insured young cancer patients fare better, live longer: study

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – Young adults with cancer are far more likely to recover or live longer if they have health insurance, a new study on the potential impact of the Affordable Care Act shows. “Patients who were insured did better in pretty much every regard,” said Dr. Ayal Aizer of Dana Farber Cancer Institute In Boston, whose study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He said insured patients were 16 percent more likely to seek treatment for cancers earlier in the process, when the disease was still curable, versus waiting until the cancer had spread to other parts of the body. Insured patients also were twice as likely as uninsured patients to receive treatments such as radiation or surgery that could potentially cure their cancers.