Timely Cancer Diagnosis Linked to Insurance Status

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For both Medicaid patients and uninsured patients, cancers that are routinely screened for were the most likely to be diagnosed in an advanced stage. This was also true for cancers that present with symptoms in the earliest stages, such as melanoma and bladder cancer.

Cancers such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer tended to be diagnosed in later stages, regardless of whether the patient was insured, uninsured or on Medicaid. These cancers are typically found in an advanced stage since there are no screening tests that could find them early, Ward noted.

In addition, blacks were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancers. This finding shows that barriers to screening tests and health care beyond insurance negatively affect black patients, the researchers suggest.

The American Cancer Society thinks that the health-care system in the United States needs to be reformed, Ward said. "There needs to be a process of really looking at the problems with the way the health insurance system is working. There needs to be a dialogue about how to make this better," she said.

One expert thinks the solution to the health-care insurance problem is universal health insurance.

"We know that the uninsured are 25 percent more likely to die than other Americans," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. "This study tells us one reason why. Many uninsured cancer victims don't get the screening and primary care that would find their disease early, when a cure is still possible," she said.

"The U.S. health system costs twice as much as those of other developed nations, but still leaves millions facing cancer and other serious illness without adequate care," Woolhandler said. "A fundamental change is needed, namely, nonprofit national health insurance."

In another study in the same journal issue, Dutch researchers from the University Medical Centre Groningen recommended that family doctors be involved in the long-term care of children who have survived cancer.