According to the latest survey conducted by the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, young adults are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer as compared to mid aged adults. The reason behind this statement is simple enough. Not everyone in their 20s have health insurance. Fresh college pass outs and graduates are more concerned with their student debts and other expenses; as a result many young adults choose to ignore the importance of health insurance. A similar report claiming the same facts was also presented by the Harvard Medical School.
ACA expanded the Coverage to more than 6 Million people:
It is widely speculated that the new Affordable Care Act will help in diagnosing the cancer at an early stage. Since the law came into effect, it has expanded the coverage to more than 6 million people. It is a fact that majority of these 6 million people didn’t had any health insurance plan before ACA made health insurance affordable and accessible.
Now Cancer Patients and survivors can get Health insurance too:
The new Affordable Health Care Act is being seen as the first major effort towards reforming the health care industry. One of the positive changes brought about by ACA is that it strictly bans the practice of Underwriting. Underwriting refers to the practice of denying coverage to someone because he/she has a pre-existing medical condition. Since Underwriting has now been banned, it will benefit the cancer patients as now they will be able to buy health insurance.
Role of Insurance in Cancer Diagnosis:
Even though there is no guarantee but most of the cancer patients can recover to full health if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage. Records collected from various hospitals across the United States make it clear that young adults with health insurance are less likely to be diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer. As opposite to this, people who do not have health insurance are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer after the disease has spread or metastasized. Since the successful treatment of cancer depends on the stage at which the disease is diagnosed, it becomes extremely important for young adults to have a comprehensive health insurance plan.
Researchers at the Harvard Medical School analyzed the records of over 50,000 cancer patients stored in the National Cancer Institute. The study revealed that most of the cancer patients who didn’t survive lacked coverage and were diagnosed with cancer at an advanced stage.
If we look at the records from a different perspective then we also find that most of the patients diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer were young adults, aged between 20 – 32.
There is no denying in the fact that overall ACA is going to have a positive impact on the health care industry. But ACA itself gives rise to another concern. In most of the states, premiums for young healthy adults are significantly higher. Such high premium rates allow the government to subsidize the health insurance for senior citizens and it also helps in giving tax credits.
Subsiding health insurance for senior citizens is definitely a noble idea but high premiums in the case of young adults can make them decide against purchasing a health insurance plan.
This article was authored by Sam Hendricks. Sam works as an insurance salesman and also doubles up as a freelance writer. Get free health care insurance quotes online. Compare health care insurance plans and apply for medical coverage.