AI Summary
This study examines the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dependent Coverage Expansion (DCE) on young adults with cancer. The research found that after the ACA implementation, young adults aged 19-25 had significantly improved survival rates and decreased cancer mortality rates compared to younger and older age groups. The study suggests that expanding insurance coverage and enabling earlier cancer diagnosis among young adults are crucial for improving outcomes in this population.
Comparison of patients in the ACA DCE-eligible age range (excluding ages and calendar years when patients with cancer would not have been eligible for DCE health insurance) versus younger and older patients in terms of changes in relative survival rates in the United States after an invasive cancer diagnosis from an average of 6 years before ACA enactment (2005–2010) to an average of the first 6 years after ACA enactment (2011–2016). ACA indicates the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; ACA DCE, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Dependent Coverage Expansion. Data source: the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results 22 Regions, excluding Massachusetts and Illinois.
Abstract
Background
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). 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.
Results
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).
Conclusions
During the first decade of the ACA, eligible young adults with cancer have had significantly improved survival and mortality. Additional policies expanding insurance coverage and enabling earlier cancer diagnosis among young adults are needed.
Plain Language Summary
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Dependent Care Expansion (DCE) that began in the United States in 2011 allowed young adults aged 19–25 years to remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26 years.
The survival rate at 6 years in young adult patients diagnosed with cancer was 2.6 to 3.9 times greater in the DCE-eligible age group compared with the younger and older age groups, and the rate of deaths from cancer improved 1.5 to 2.1 times more.
During the first decade of the ACA, young adults with cancer who were in the eligible group had significantly longer survival and reduced deaths from cancer.
Additional policies that expand insurance coverage and allow the diagnosis of cancer sooner are needed in young adults.