In addition to the good news released last week about hospital mortality rates, the CDC reports a positive trend in cancer death rates:
Death rates from cancer continue to fall in the United States, dropping more than 2 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, cancer experts reported on Monday.
And it would appear that the rate of improvement is speeding up:
The annual decline in cancer death rates from 2002 to 2004 was nearly twice the decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the socialized medicine crowd to produce a black cloud for this silver lining.
[HT Doctor Anonymous]
Comments 11
Why is covering all Americans at issue here?
We do a lot of things very well, no one disputes that. What we don’t do well is take care of all of our citizens in an equitable manner.
Why on earth does this news have anything to do with continuing to enrich private health insurers? Do you think private health insurance played any role in these numbers? How about the NIH and the NCI, perhaps? You know, those American taxpayer funded institutions that can’t possibly do anything right? How about our large state universities and their research teams, funded by our taxes? Do you think single payer will lead to drying up of these sources of research? If so, we need to fight hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 12:22 pm ¶We do a lot of things very well, no one disputes that.
Oh, people dispute it all the time. In fact, the quality of American health care is under constant attack. One example (among many) can be found here.
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 12:49 pm ¶What’s the point of your last two posts? Are you arguing for the status quo in medicine?
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 3:32 pm ¶Nope. I’m trying to make the point that, while the system needs some work, it is producing a lot of good outcomes and is certainly not in a “crisis.”
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 3:41 pm ¶Oh, people dispute it all the time. In fact, the quality of American health care is under constant attack.
No, people dispute that we have the best overall healthcare in the world,or the best outcomes, which we don’t, mainly because of our dysfunctional, fragmented “system.” Can you point to somebody saying we don’t do a good job with high tech care or trauma or CABGs or cancer?
It is not the quality of the care that is actually given that is under attack, it is the lack of care given to those without the money to access the system. Or to those thrown out of the system when they can’t pay (go see Sicko for some curl-your-toes examples of that).
Do you see the debate from our point of view? America has the capacity to provide far and away the best healthcare in the world and it is a disgrace that we don’t because we would rather avoid the bogeyman of creeping socialism rather than making a societal choice to provide the best care we can for all of our citizens in an equitable way, regardless of ability to pay.
More from your link:
“Colorectal cancer incidence rates decreased by more than 2 percent per year for men and women, likely due to prevention through the removal of precancerous polyps,” the statement said. These polyps are removed during colonoscopies, which are recommended for everyone over the age of 50.
Drops in the lung cancer rate can be directly linked to reduced tobacco use — rates are still going up among women, who began smoking in large numbers long after men did, but also began to kick the habit later.
“The long-term federal investment in cancer research is paying off,” said Dr. Nancy Davidson, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
“But this impressive pace of progress will slow if we don’t recommit to funding cancer research. Adjusted for inflation, cancer research funding has actually declined 12 percent since 2004 — this has never happened in our nation’s history,” Davidson added in a statement.
“Without additional funding, the chance to build on the extraordinary progress to date, and provide new treatments for 1.4 million Americans diagnosed with cancer every year, will be delayed or lost.”
Nixon’s war on cancer is paying off. The man who broought you the EPA as well. And he waa a conservative back in the day!
I heard a cancer researcher say on NPR today that only 50% of Americans have insurance that pays for most cancer screening, and that we would be doing even better in our overall cancer death rates if we could ensure better screening.
Cheers,
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 5:31 pm ¶I heard a cancer researcher say on NPR today that only 50% of Americans have insurance that pays for most cancer screening, and that we would be doing even better in our overall cancer death rates if we could ensure better screening.
That would be the “black cloud” I predicted in the last paragraph of the post.
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 6:58 pm ¶That’s a silver lining: we couold do much better!
Posted 15 Oct 2007 at 7:09 pm ¶Check this out.
http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2007/01/pfor3-0701.html
‘A 2003 study found that among the patients in Kentucky’s Cancer Registry (KCR) database, 31 percent of Medicaid and uninsured patients first presented with stage IV cancer, compared to 17 percent of those with private insurance and 22 percent of those with Medicare [5]. A look at the impact on survival of privately insured compared to uninsured prostate cancer patients showed that 98 percent and 83 percent respectively survived for 3 years; for breast cancer it was 91 percent, and 78 percent; for colorectal cancer, 71 percent and 53 percent; and for lung cancer, 23 percent and 13 percent. Another report showed that the adjusted risk of death four to seven years after diagnosis among breast cancer patients was 49 percent higher for the uninsured and 40 percent higher for Medicaid patients than for privately insured patients ‘
Posted 17 Oct 2007 at 1:48 pm ¶So if the private sector is doing that much better with clinical outcomes, why is there a push to force a government system for all?
Posted 18 Oct 2007 at 9:32 am ¶‘So if the private sector is doing that much better with clinical outcomes, why is there a push to force a government system for all?’
Without Medicare and Medicaid your outcomes would be far worse. Even Captain Catron doesn’t advocate abolishing them.
Posted 18 Oct 2007 at 2:36 pm ¶Who said abolish them? I was just pointing out that a socialist system would put everyone in the less effective categories.
Posted 18 Oct 2007 at 4:57 pm ¶Post a Comment