A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in April found a link between out-of-pocket costs and delays in breast cancer services.
For the study, researchers enrolled 273,499 insured women age 25 to 64 with no evidence of breast cancer at the time of study enrollment. Participants were continuously enrolled for one year in insurance plans with deductibles of up to $500, followed by up to four years in insurance plans with deductibles of at least $1,000. Researchers tracked the participants between 2003 and 2012.
The study found women with high-deductible health plans delayed diagnostic breast imaging, breast biopsy, early-stage breast cancer diagnosis, and chemotherapy initiation, compared with women without high-deductible plans.
More specifically, women with high-deductible health plans delayed chemotherapy initiation by seven months, on average, one of the study's authors, Dr. J. Frank Wharam, an associate professor and a general internist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, told The New York Times.
"Women switched to HDHPs experienced delays in diagnostic breast imaging, breast biopsy, early-stage breast cancer diagnosis, and chemotherapy initiation," the study's authors concluded. "Additional research should determine whether such delays cause adverse health outcomes, and policymakers should consider selectively reducing out-of-pocket costs for key breast cancer services."
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