Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comCancer disparities exist despite good insurance
Seeded on Fri Jul 29, 2011 2:52 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
- msnbc.com sites & shows:
- TODAY
- Rock Center
- Nightly News
- Meet the Press
- Dateline
- Morning Joe
- Hardball
- Ed
- Maddow
- Last Word
- msnbc tv
Leave a Comment:
This article is a complete load of BS. Look at the size of the study group. 2300 whites vs 400 blacks. Of course there will be more treatment in the larger group. What a nice way of the press to stir up racial tension.
Wow.
I always wanted to give my fellow humans the benefit of the doubt when it came to intelligence, but gosh.
I always wondered why people had such a hard time understanding medical studies.
Now I know it's because people lack basic statistical analysis skills.
The study isn't saying more white women got treatment than black women. The study is saying statistically, white women are more likely than black women to get treatment.
Meaning, if we take each group of women and find the percentage (the number of women out of 100) who got a treatment, we can compare it to the percentage of women in the other group who got a treatment.
Since statistics and percentages are all based upon 100, we can compare both groups regardless of how many people are in each group (provided we have enough to be statistically relevant).
Wow. Just wow.
Elizabeth: Geez, you completely misread that study--the numbers obviously confused you. Go back and read again--perhaps it'll be more obvious.
Wow. I mean wow. Elizabeth, go take a few basic math classes then sign up for a statistics class at a community college. And for god's sake, until you understand math and statistical analysis never comment in public again about any type of study as they all end to use some sort of statistical analysis.
Another possiblity for a difference in care is whether the advanced treatment was being offerred in a military treatment facility or a Tricare accepting facility versus a patient going out on their own to find the latest treatment available .... in which case they would possibly be getting it under Tricare Standard which requires a higher level of payment by the patient. If that is the case then one has to also look at the family income of the patients. If you can`t afford to pay for that type of treatment then you aren`t going to seek it. Just something to consider as they further disect the available information.
If a black woman is in the military, or she is a dependant of someone in the military, why is the subject of poverty coming up? Is there a pay difference between blacks and whites in the military? Why would the white woman (with military insurance) be more able to afford the treatment than a black woman with the same insurance??
The purpose of studying military women is that their insurance coverage and financial situation should be similar.
The article did not say anything about black women not being able to afford the advanced treatments.
The article stated that white women were more likely to get the treatments (as shown through insurance billing) than black women were.
So, black women could be more likely to have another form of insurance that is covering these treatments first.
Or, black women are being offered these treatments, but in general are declining these treatments for some reason that is more culturally associated with black women.
Or, black women are not being offered these treatments by the doctors.
I asked the question about poverty because it was mentioned by a newsviner, not because it was in the article. (Kelcy #2)
That would be for what the "REPLY" button is.
My husband died of leukemia. He had good insurance, but his doctors decided it was time for him to die. They kept putting a DNR band on his wrist, they withheld services and food, but they tested him for everything under the sun to run up the bill. As far as I am concerned they killed him. Karma has a way of getting to these people and I hope they have a family member who is treated like my husband was. Bad drs. always mean a bad outcome no matter what your race is.
LS, how could a doctor put a DNR band on your husband's wrist when you, as the next of kin, were there? That sounds hideously illegal to me. I am sorry for your loss.