Having Health Insurance Means a Better Chance of Curing Illness
01 08 08 - 18:52
Most people are aware that having health insurance is extremely important. With the high cost of health insurance, many people in the United States still lack health insurance. Although many American's cannot find health insurance, more commonly individuals have simply been reluctant to purchase health insurance because of high cost.
From my perspective as a physician, I see so many of my patients confused about what type of insurance to get, and which plan is best for them. With such varied options available for health insurance, each person who is not insured should carefully consider calling a health insurance agent who can provide free information about possible insurance coverage.
Other than paying for tests and treatments, is there another benefit of having health insurance? As a doctor, I was very impressed by a recent study published in Lancet Oncology by Dr. Halpern which indicates that if a person in the United States has health insurance, the chances of having a cancer detected at a more curable stage is increased.
The authors from the American Cancer Society used the National Cancer Database in the United States to study more than 3.7 million patients. These people had been diagnosed with cancer between 1998 and 2004. The diseases that were studied by the authors were breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer, melanoma, prostate cancer, cancer of the uterus, lymphoma, as well as some other cancers.
The results indicated that if patients did not have medical insurance, or if they only had Medicaid insurance, the cancers which were diagnosed were much more likely to be widespread when they were initially detected. For example, in patients with lung cancer, colon cancer, or breast cancer, patients without insurance were 100% more likely to have Stage III or IV less curable illness than Stage I highly curable cancer.
The explanation for this information is probably that people who lack health insurance do not want to go to doctors and do not want to spend money for highly effective screening tests even when they have no symptoms, or very expensive diagnostic tests for any symptom that occurs. If a person is less likely to go to a physician with the signs or symptoms of an early illness, it is much more likely that this person will have a more serious disease when the symptoms persist and the patient ultimately has to go to a physician for evaluation.
The message from this study, which every person in American should hear, is that health insurance increases the likelihood of avoiding potentially fatal disease! This is now proven in this very large study of patients with cancer.
In my practice, I see daily the results of patients who have not had health insurance. Their more severe illnesses confirm previously published medical reports which indicate the lack of medical insurance results in much poorer health status. Uninsured people have fewer eye exams, worse diabetes, less frequent diabetes screening with blood sugar tests, and poorer blood pressure control. Cholesterol levels were higher in those people without health insurance. Arthritis was more frequent in uninsured people, as well.
Therefore, my recommendations as a physician from this week's column are to make absolutely certain you have health insurance. Once you have insurance, make absolutely certain that you make and keep appointments with your primary care physician. And importantly, be certain to ask your physician about screening for very important diseases so that the serious and possibly fatal consequences of undetected illness will never affect you.
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