Insurance Doesn't Cure Health-Care Disparities
December 21, 2006
THURSDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Having health insurance
does not eliminate the poor outcomes that blacks with colon cancer
experience, researchers report.
Instead, differences in screening tests and surgical treatment may
be part of the reason blacks have lower survival rates than whites,
Hispanics and Asians, according to the report in the Dec. 21 online
issue of Cancer.
"
Whether you're black or white matters in how you get treated, even
with the same access -- that's the bottom line," said Dr. Harold
Freeman, a senior advisor to the director of the National Cancer
Institute and former director of the Center to Reduce Cancer Health
Disparities at the National Cancer Institute.
The disparities for those with health insurance are less than they
are in the general population, said study author Dr. Chyke A.
Doubeni, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and
the Meyers Primary Care Institute. "But just having health
insurance alone does not eliminate disparities," he said. "There
need to be systems in place that make sure that everyone is getting
services."
Doubeni noted that when blacks and whites with colorectal cancer
are treated the same, they have similar outcomes.
In the study, Doubeni and colleagues collected data on 10,585 non-Hispanic
whites, 1,479 non-Hispanic blacks, 985 Hispanics and 909 Asians/Pacific
Islanders who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer from 1993
to 1998. All the patients had health insurance.
The researchers found that compared with whites, blacks were 17
percent more likely to die from colon cancer, Hispanics had a
similar risk of death to whites, and Asians had the lowest risk
of death from the disease.
In addition, blacks were less likely to undergo surgery, compared
with whites. Moreover, earlier detection and greater use of surgery
would each, independently, improve mortality risk, the researchers
found.
In fact, Doubeni's team found that surgery to treat the cancer significantly
reduced the risk of death among blacks, to around 6 percent.
Doubeni thinks that the reasons these disparities exist are complex.
Among these are doctors who don't recommend certain treatments,
and patients, especially minority patients, who are distrustful
of medical care, he said.
In addition, Doubeni said that racism plays a role. "Racism
and discrimination is still at play," he said. "Most of
this occurs at an unconscious level. But there are preconceived
ideas and prejudices about patients."
References :http://news.yahoo.com/ |
