Despite the fact that most survivors of adolescent and young adult cancers have health insurance, many avoid routine medical care because it’s too expensive, according to a new study published early online in Cancer. Thus, simply increasing insurance coverage for young cancer survivors may not be enough to preserve their long-term health.
Very little is known about the level of care that survivors of adolescent and young adult cancers receive in the years following their diagnosis and treatment. And yet, medical care in the years after a cancer diagnosis is especially important for identifying any long-term health conditions related to the cancer treatment.
For the study, Anne Kirchhoff, PhD, MPH, of Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and her colleagues analyzed national survey responses from younger adults aged 20 to 39 years. Surveys were completed by 67,216 controls who had no cancer history, and 979 patients who were diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 and 34 years and were at least 5 years from diagnosis.
Researchers discovered that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors were similarly uninsured compared with those without cancer (21% vs 23%). However, survivors were 67% more likely to decline routine medical care due to costs incurred during the previous year. For younger survivors aged 20 to 29 years, cost barriers were especially high (44% vs 16% of controls). Survivors reporting poorer health, and female survivors faced more cost barriers.
“The Affordable Care Act is an important step to ensuring that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors have health insurance coverage and improving their healthcare access; however, they need to be educated about the importance of regular healthcare to monitor for late effects,” said Kirchhoff. “Furthermore, even the insured survivors in our study reported unmet healthcare needs due to cost barriers, suggesting that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors need resource supports beyond health insurance.”
Source: Wiley.