Studies say ACA erased a racial disparity in cancer care, sped up time to treatment

The ACA helped reduce a key racial disparity among cancer patients, according to research presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting yesterday. Pre-ACA, blacks with cancer were 4.8 percentage points less likely to start treatment within a month of being diagnosed with cancer, but in states that expanded access to Medicaid under the ACA, blacks are now getting timely treatment about on par with white patients. Researchers behind another study found that women are being diagnosed with ovarian cancer sooner than before the ACA was implemented in 2010. More women are also starting treatment within a month of their diagnosis. Although the studies didn’t look at whether earlier treatment led to improved survival, scientists surmise that that was likely the case.

STAT's Adam Feuerstein and Matthew Herper are on the ground at the ASCO meeting. Check out their coverage — including promising early results from the liquid biopsy startup Grail — here.