Thorpe Kenneth E, Howard David
Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2003 Jan-Jun;Suppl Web Exclusives:W3-189-98. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.w3.189.
Over 1.3 million new cancer cases are diagnosed each year. While most cancer patients are older and covered by Medicare, our analysis indicates that 10 percent of cancer patients under age sixty-five are uninsured and that 20 percent of Hispanic cancer patients under age sixty-five are uninsured. We find substantial differences in cancer spending by insurance status; uninsured patients under age sixty-five spent 57 percent as much over a six-month period as privately insured patients spent for their cancer care. We present evidence to show that spending differences are due in part or completely to differences in use, which suggests that raising coverage rates will improve cancer treatment.
每年有超过130万例新发癌症病例被诊断出来。虽然大多数癌症患者年龄较大且有医疗保险覆盖，但我们的分析表明，65岁以下的癌症患者中有10%没有保险，65岁以下的西班牙裔癌症患者中有20%没有保险。我们发现，不同保险状况下的癌症支出存在显著差异；65岁以下未参保患者在六个月内的支出仅为私人参保患者癌症治疗支出的57%。我们提供的证据表明，支出差异部分或完全归因于使用情况的差异，这表明提高保险覆盖率将改善癌症治疗。
