Abstract
Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with public or no insurance experience later stage at diagnosis and worse overall survival compared with those with private insurance. However, prior studies have not distinguished the survival impact of continuous Medicaid coverage prior to diagnosis compared with gaining Medicaid coverage at diagnosis. Methods: We linked a cohort of AYAs aged 15-39 who were diagnosed with 13 common cancers from 2005 to 2014 in the California Cancer Registry with California Medicaid enrollment files to ascertain Medicaid enrollment, with other insurance determined from registry data. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate the impact of insurance on survival, adjusting for clinical and demographic characteristics. Results: Among 62 218 AYAs, over 65% had private/military insurance, 10% received Medicaid at diagnosis, 13.2% had continuous Medicaid, 4.1% had discontinuous Medicaid, 1.7% had other public insurance, 3% were uninsured, and 2.6% had unknown insurance. Compared with those with private/military insurance, individuals with Medicaid insurance had significantly worse survival regardless of when coverage began (received Medicaid at diagnosis: hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.51 [1.42-1.61]; continuously Medicaid insured: 1.42 [1.33-1.52]; discontinuous Medicaid: 1.64 [1.49, 1.80]). Analyses of those with Medicaid insurance only demonstrated slightly worse cancer-specific survival among those with discontinuous Medicaid or enrollment at diagnosis compared with those with continuous enrollment, but results were not significant stratified by cancer site. Conclusions and relevance: AYAs with Medicaid insurance experience worse cancer-specific survival compared with those with private/military insurance, yet continuous enrollment demonstrates slight survival improvements, providing potential opportunities for future policy intervention.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e28498 |
Journal | Pediatric Blood and Cancer |
Volume | 67 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported in part by NIH P30 CA77598 Masonic Cancer Center. This work was also supported by the Cancer Research Coordinating Committee (grant number CRR-17-420784). The collection of cancer incidence data used in this study was supported by the California Department of Public Health as part of the statewide cancer reporting program mandated by California Health and Safety Code Section 103885; the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program under contract HHSN261201000140C awarded to the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, contract HHSN261201000035C awarded to the University of Southern California, and contract HHSN261201000034C awarded to the Public Health Institute; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Program of Cancer Registries, under agreement U58DP003862-01 awarded to the California Department of Public Health. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and endorsement by the State of California, Department of Public Health the National Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or their Contractors and Subcontractors is not intended nor should be inferred. TW is supported by grant UL1 0001860 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by NIH P30 CA77598 Masonic Cancer Center. This work was also supported by the Cancer Research Coordinating Committee (grant number CRR‐17‐420784). The collection of cancer incidence data used in this study was supported by the California Department of Public Health as part of the statewide cancer reporting program mandated by California Health and Safety Code Section 103885; the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program under contract HHSN261201000140C awarded to the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, contract HHSN261201000035C awarded to the University of Southern California, and contract HHSN261201000034C awarded to the Public Health Institute; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Program of Cancer Registries, under agreement U58DP003862‐01 awarded to the California Department of Public Health. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and endorsement by the State of California, Department of Public Health the National Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or their Contractors and Subcontractors is not intended nor should be inferred. TW is supported by grant UL1 0001860 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC
Keywords
- Medicaid
- adolescent and young adult
- cancer survivor
- survival