Cancer survival grows with ACA coverage: 4 study takeaways

Cancer survival among young adults has increased since the ACA’s Dependent Care Expansion passed in 2010, allowing Americans to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until turning 26 years old, according to a study published Oct. 7 in Cancer. 

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By: Elizabeth Gregerson

Here are four things to know:

  1. Researchers from Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memphis, Tenn.-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Portland-based Oregon Health & Science University analyzed data from the CDC and the National Cancer Institute to compare changes in cancer survival and mortality in specific age ranges. 
  2. The Dependent Care Expansion-eligible age range data (ages 19-25) was compared to younger (12-18) and older (26-32) age range data.
  3. Within six years of the ACA, the cancer survival rate change among the DCE-eligible age group was 2.6 times higher than the younger and 3.9 times higher than the older age group survival rates. 
  4. For the same time period, the cancer death rate for the DCE-eligible age group was 2.1 times more improved than the younger and 1.5 times more improved than the older age group death rates. 
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