Cancer patients who live in counties with higher levels of medical debt were more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage and had worse survival outcomes, according to a study published Aug. 18 in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Researchers analyzed data of 7,558,658 adult cancer patients diagnosed between 2011 and 2019 from the National Cancer Database for the study.
The pattern of medical debt linking medical debt to late-stage diagnosis and worse survival was observed among major cancer types, and among subpopulations of different socio-demographic and clinical backgrounds.
“Future research is needed to evaluate ongoing policies, including those related to medical debt, large federal cuts to Medicaid and the social safety net and expiration of Marketplace insurance subsidies, and their relationship with cancer care and outcomes,” Xuesong Han, PhD, scientific director of health services research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the study, said in an Aug. 18 news release from the American Cancer Society.
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