Medicaid expansion linked to lower rates of breast cancer mortality

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act is associated with lower overall mortality among women aged 40 to 64 who are diagnosed with breast cancer. A JAMA Network study analyzed data from 1.6 million women across states that did and did not adopt Medicaid expansion and found a 4.8% reduction in overall mortality in expansion states. Hispanic women were the biggest beneficiaries, as were women in higher-income neighborhoods and those receiving immunotherapy. “Benefits were uneven,” the report notes, “underscoring persistent racial and ethnic and socioeconomic disparities and the need for targeted interventions.”