Timely Cancer Diagnosis Linked to Insurance Status

In addition, blacks were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancers. This finding shows that barriers to screening tests and health care beyond insurance negatively affect black patients, the researchers suggest.

The American Cancer Society thinks that the health-care system in the United States needs to be reformed, Ward said. "There needs to be a process of really looking at the problems with the way the health insurance system is working. There needs to be a dialogue about how to make this better," she said.

One expert thinks the solution to the health-care insurance problem is universal health insurance.

"We know that the uninsured are 25 percent more likely to die than other Americans," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. "This study tells us one reason why. Many uninsured cancer victims don't get the screening and primary care that would find their disease early, when a cure is still possible," she said.

"The U.S. health system costs twice as much as those of other developed nations, but still leaves millions facing cancer and other serious illness without adequate care," Woolhandler said. "A fundamental change is needed, namely, nonprofit national health insurance."

In another study in the same journal issue, Dutch researchers from the University Medical Centre Groningen recommended that family doctors be involved in the long-term care of children who have survived cancer.

As these cancer survivors age, issues related to their cancer should be integrated with more general medical care by family doctors. This is likely to be more cost-effective than specialist care alone, the researchers reported.

"Loss of long-term cancer survivors to follow-up should be avoided, because many of the potentially serious late effects might not manifest until decades after completion of treatment," the team concluded.

More information

For more on cancer screening, visit the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: Elizabeth Ward, Ph.D., director, surveillance research, department of epidemiology and surveillance research, American Cancer Society, Atlanta; Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and co-founder, Physicians for a National Health Program; March 2008,The Lancet Oncology