Variation in insurance status by patient demographics and tumor site among nonelderly adult patients with cancer

BACKGROUND In the United States, an estimated 48 million individuals live without health insurance. The purpose of the current study was to explore the Variation in insurance status by patient demographics and tumor site among nonelderly adult patients with cancer. METHODS A total of 688,794 patients aged 18 to 64 years who were diagnosed with one of the top 25 incident cancers (representing 95% of all cancer diagnoses) between 2007 and 2010 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were analyzed. Patient characteristics included age, race, sex, marital status, and rural or urban residence. County‐level demographics included percent poverty level. Insurance status was defined as having non‐Medicaid insurance, Medicaid coverage, or no insurance. RESULTS On multivariate logistic regression analyses, younger age, male sex, nonwhite race, being unmarried, residence in counties with higher levels of poverty, and rural residence were associated with being uninsured versus having non‐Medicaid insurance (all P