Affordable Health Insurance Coverage Doesn't Explain Breast Cancer Disparities

Intuitively, health coverage or lack thereof would impact a person's likelihood of surviving a serious illness, such as cancer

. After all, being without insurance makes it less likely that a person will visit a doctor regularly for preventative care. Therefore, diseases would probably be caught later, when they are harder or nearly impossible to treat.

In the United States, certain races are more likely to be in lower socioeconomic groups. As a result, Hispanics and African-Americans would have lower survival rates. This is indeed true in the case of breast cancer; minorities are less likely to recieve the recommended care for invasive breast cancer than Caucasian women. This statistic appeared in the medical journal Cancer, and was conducted by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Surprisingly, the disparity remains even after the study authors controlled for health insurance status. Regardless of that factor, black women were 13 percent less likely to recieve recommended chemotherapy. They were also nearly 10 percent less likely to recieve medically advised surgery or hormone therapy.

Black and Latina women are more likely than white women to be on public health insurance, such as Medicaid. However, the difference in survival rates remained when apples were compared to apples (i.e. those on private plans).

The Obama administration's healthcare reform law is intended to help alleviate differences in health outcomes. Unfortunately, these statistics prove that the legislation will not be a panacea.

If access to affordable health insurance in itself is not the solution, what is? That remains to be seen. Some experts speculate that although income in itself was not a direct factor, it could indirectly impact health care. For example, confirming a breast cancer diagnosis can take several doctor's appointments: the initial exam, a follow-up exam, and then the reveal of the results (since most doctors rarely tell patients the results of such major tests over the phone). Treatment can't begin until the diagnosis is confirmed. Someone with a low-paid, hourly job may find it difficult to take multiple days off for doctor's visits in a short period of time. Meanwhile, finding efficient transportation can also be difficult for those with lower incomes. African American women are more likely to be in this situation.

Of course, a handful of individuals also speculate that latent racism may be a factor: certain doctors may purposely delay processing the results of black women's tests. Hopefully, this is not the case.

Affordable Health Insurance Coverage Doesn't Explain Breast Cancer Disparities

By: Yamileth Medina

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