Study: Medicaid expansion cuts disparities in cancer care
30,386 anonymous electronic health records dated from 2011 to 2019 from Flatiron Health’s database. The analysis looked at timely treatment, provided within 30 days of diagnosis, for eight advanced or metastatic cancer types.
While the study suggests that Medicaid expansion eliminated the racial disparity in timely cancer treatments, it doesn’t prove it, said Davidoff.
“I see this as contributing to our understanding of how the ACA might be affecting the process of cancer care, and how it might affect disparities in that care,” she said. The study was the first of its kind to take a “deep dive” into the process of cancer treatment and disparities therein, she added. It examined the disparity between white and black patients because those groups had the largest sample sizes in the data provided.
“I was actually surprised at how big the effect was,” Davidoff said of the results. “The fact that we saw this pretty huge effect was exciting but surprising.”
In 2010, Connecticut was the first state in the nation to expand Medicaid. The option, available under the ACA, allows states to extend coverage to anyone living in a household where the income is below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal poverty level for a family of four this year is household income of $25,750.
Nationwide 35 other states and Washington, D.C. have expanded Medicaid under the ACA; 14 states have not.
While the patients in this study would need to be tracked over time to see what their outcomes ultimately are, the research is encouraging, said Patricia Baker, president and CEO
“It is not surprising that research found that coverage made a difference. With coverage they were able to access care in a timely manner. This is what many of us hoped coverage would bring with it — not the cure-all for racial disparity, but to give greater opportunity for people to optimize their health.” Patricia Baker, president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation
of the Connecticut Health Foundation.
“It is not surprising that research found that coverage made a difference,” Baker said. “With coverage they were able to access care in a timely manner. This is what many of us hoped coverage would bring with it — not the cure- all for racial disparity, but to give greater opportunity for people to optimize their health.”
This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.