Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Access to Accredited Facilities for Cancer Treatment
A study published in Health Services Research examines how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance expansions affected access to cancer surgeries at National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers (NCI-CCC) and Commission on Cancer-accredited Hospitals (CoC) in Pennsylvania. The researchers found a significant increase in the likelihood of patients from high uninsured areas receiving surgery at NCI-CCCs after the ACA expansions and that there was a positive, but not significantly significant, increase in surgeries at CoC hospitals. The study concludes that ACA insurance expansions improved access to specialized cancer care at NCI-CCCs.