Reports on Cancer Findings from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Provide New Insights (Improved Survival and Decreased Cancer Deaths In Young Adults With Cancer After Passage of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Expansion): Cancer

2024 OCT 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- A new study on Cancer is now available. According to news reporting from Portland, Oregon, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed Americans aged 19-25 years to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26 years (the Dependent Care Expansion [DCE]). Have those with cancer diagnoses benefited? Methods: The ACE DCE 7-year age range of 19-25 years was compared for changes in cancer survival and mortality before and after enactment of the ACA with groups that were younger and older (in 7-year age spans: ages 12-18 and 26-32 years, respectively).”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), “Cancer death data for the entire United States were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and relative survival data of patients who were diagnosed with cancer were obtained from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results regions representing 42%-44% of the country. Joinpoint analysis identified the DCE-eligible cohort as the only age group of the three groups evaluated that have had improvements in both cancer survival and death rate trends after ACA implementation and that 2010, the year the ACA was passed, was the inflection year for both survival and deaths. By 6 years, the relative survival after cancer diagnosis was 2.6 and 3.9 times greater in the DCE-eligible age group than in the younger and older control groups, respectively (both p< .001), and the cancer death rate in the DCE-eligible age group improved 2.1 and 1.5 times greater than in the younger and older control age groups, respectively (both p< .01). During the first decade of the ACA, eligible young adults with cancer have had significantly improved survival and mortality.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Additional policies expanding insurance coverage and enabling earlier cancer diagnosis among young adults are needed.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Improved Survival and Decreased Cancer Deaths In Young Adults With Cancer After Passage of the Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Expansion. Cancer, 2024. Cancer can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Cancer - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0142)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Archie Bleyer, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Dept. of Radiation Medicine, Portland, OR, United States. Additional authors for this research include Michael Roth, Branko Cuglievan, J. Andrew Livingston, Clark R. Andersen, Amy Berkman, Stuart Siegel, Michelle Hildebrandt and Jaime Estrada.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35538. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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