Survival rates vary based on insurance

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Survival rates vary based on insurance
2
Fri, 07-17-2009 - 2:40pm

If you like to survive cancer, you may prefer private insurance.

91% of American men with prostate cancer survive their cancer while only 51% of British men survive.

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=011008&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=6964953&referralPlaylistId=playlist

81% of the 215,000 American women that are diagnosed with breast cancer will survive their cancer. The UK's model to be emulated public heath system saves between 42 and 48%. Sweden achieves a 58% survival rate.

http://underscorebleach.net/jotsheet/2004/10/politicization-disease-breast-prostate-cancer-funding

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/03March/Pages/Cancersurvivalrates.aspx

British Columbia's surgery wait times are listed below. Heart, gallbladder and brain surgery are considered important enough in the US that waits are usually 24-48 hours or less.

Orthopedic surgery:15,799 patients waiting, average wait time about 5.4 months

Urological surgery: 5,874 patients waiting, average wait time about 3 months

Neurological surgery: 1,759 patients waiting, average wait time about 4 months

Gall Bladder surgery: 1,552 patients waiting, average wait time more than 3 months

Cardiac surgery: 128 patients waiting, average wait time about 1 month

http://briansullivan.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2009/07/16/waiting-in-bc-more-than-20000-in-canadian-province-waiting-months-for-surgery/

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Fri, 07-17-2009 - 9:56pm

Glenn Beck as authority on cancer survival rates? Surely you jest! The man is NOT known for being either well-informed or objective and has a reputation even with conservatives like David Frum as being an outlier of the loonie fringe.

Your links didn't support the statistics you quoted on survival rates in the United States. One was a blogger's diatribe about the attention and resources given to HIV and breast cancer versus prostate cancer. The other site, reporting briefly on the results of the EUROCARE-4 study group, didn't make any comparison to cancer survival rates here in the States. Moreover the EUROCARE-4 link had observations about the study results as follows:
<< * Although the study and several newspapers have given possible explanations for why cancer survival varies across Europe, the study did not look into this in detail. Various factors could have been involved, including differences between countries in disease prevention and detection strategies, diagnostic rates (under- or over-diagnosis), cancer stage at diagnosis, how cancers are classified, what proportion of cancers are recorded in the cancer registries, and treatments that are given. Further in-depth analysis would be needed to untangle the effects of these contributing factors, and to determine how survival figures could be improved.
* The accuracy of the figures depends on the accuracy and completeness of the recording in the original registries. Although the researchers took steps to ensure the quality of the data and took into account the coverage of the registries, these factors may still have had an effect.
* The main analyses was of cancers diagnosed between 1995 and 1999. Survival rates for cancers diagnosed since 1999 may be different due to changes in how cancers are diagnosed and treated.
* Although the Daily Mail reports that survival for five years or more after diagnosis in the UK is down from previous figures of 42% in men and 53% in women to 41.4% in men and 51.4% in women, it is unclear exactly which of the many Eurocare publications these previous figures come from. Figures from one of the current EUROCARE-4 publications looking at survival trends between 1988 and 1999 suggest that five-year survival among cancer patients in the UK (relative to the general population) increased over this period.>>

Your final link was another Fox site, surprise, surprise. The numbers did look daunting on wait time so I went to the British Columbia government's site (BC, I want to stress, is a province of Canada and their stats may or may not be indicative of trends throughout the whole nation). The very first statement on BC site is this:
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As regards the 24-48 hour time frame you claim for brain, heart and gallbladder (!) surgery here, I do not agree. Much depends on the specifics of case and generally, whether the surgery is elective or emergency. If you have statistically solid and scientific links to prove your statement, do post them.

And here's a hint on posting links. Make sure that the material supports your contention/theory. Otherwise you build in weak spots which will totally undermine your own case.

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Mon, 07-20-2009 - 12:25pm

Excellent post.