Cheap Health Insurance Can Delay Cancer Diagnosis, Increase Risk Of Death

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Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 21, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 21, 2025 -- Considering a short-term health insurance plan as a cheap alternative to more costly comprehensive coverage?

You could be rolling the dice when it comes to cancer, a new study suggests.

People who opt for short-term limited duration (STLD) insurance tend to have their cancers diagnosed at a more advanced stage, when treatments are harsher and death more likely, according to a new study by American Cancer Society researchers.

States with little or no regulation of STLD plans have experienced an increase in late-stage cancer diagnoses, compared with states that prohibit short-term plans, researchers reported March 18 in JAMA Network Open.

“Most of these STLD plans do not cover essential health services, such as cancer screenings, which may delay cancer diagnoses, resulting in later stage disease, where treatment is more intensive, and the prognosis is worse,” lead researcher Nova Yang, an associate scientist of health services research at the society, said in a news release.

STLD plans initially were created to fill temporary insurance gaps that might occur as a person undergoes some sort of life change, such as switching jobs, researchers said in background notes.

Prior to 2018, these plans could only last up to three months under federal law.

But in October 2018, President Donald Trump’s administration loosened federal STLD regulations so that people could extend them up to 36 months, essentially making the plans a cut-rate alternative to the comprehensive coverage required under the Affordable Care Act.

“Since these plans often have incredibly low premiums, people are often deceived that the plans provide full coverage of services until someone falls ill and they are then faced with a financial crisis,” Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS’s advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said in a news release.

Enrollment in STLD plans immediately increased 27%, jumping from about 2.4 million people in 2018 to 3 million in 2019, researchers said.

“STLD plans are predatory and give people a false sense of security by offering low premiums but extremely minimal coverage,” the American Cancer Society said in a news release about the new study.

States had the option to impose more stringent regulations on the short-term plans than required by the feds, and 27 either kept the same limits, made them tougher, or outright banned the plans.

The other 23 states followed the federal rule with no additional regulations, researchers noted.

For this study, researchers compared cancer diagnoses in states that shrugged off concerns about STLD plans to those in states that strictly regulated or banned the plans.

Researchers identified nearly 1.3 million people 18 to 64 diagnosed with cancer between January 2016 and February 2020. These patients were categorized based on their states’ policies regarding STLD plans.

States with no regulation of short-term plans experienced a 0.76 percentage point increase in late-stage cancer diagnoses, compared to states that maintained bans on the plans, results show.

States with some lax regulation also experienced an increase of 0.84 percentage points in late-stage diagnoses, researchers found.

The study “contributes to the evidence that the proliferation of STLD plans is dangerous for cancer patients, survivors, and those at risk of developing the disease,” Lacasse said.

“STLD plans do not include critical Affordable Care Act patient protections, including pre-existing condition protections, coverage of essential health services, or caps on coverage, which have been proven to be important to better cancer outcomes,” Lacasse continued. “Evidence shows that access to comprehensive health insurance coverage saves lives, but the rise in STLD plans puts lives at risk.”

Cuts being pursued by the Trump administration and Congress make these new findings even more troubling, the ACS says. Among those potential cuts are navigators who help Americans find coverage that meets their personal needs.

“Crucial Navigator programs are being cut, making it more difficult and confusing for families to enroll in comprehensive health plans,” the ACS said. “Furthermore, if Congress makes significant cuts to the Medicaid program, more individuals will find themselves lured in by the initial low cost of STLDs, only to find their coverage inadequate and the out-of-pocket cost unsustainable if they’re diagnosed with a chronic disease like cancer.”

Sources

  • American Cancer Society, news release, March 18, 2025

    • Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

    Source: HealthDay

    Posted : 2025-03-22 06:00

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