Article
Success of Medicare's Prescription-Subsidy Program Among Low-Income Women
A study presented at ASCO's Quality Care Symposium in Boston found increased medication adherence to prevent breast cancer recurrence in those availing of the subsidies.
A federal prescription-subsidy program for low-income women on Medicare significantly improved their adherence to hormone therapy to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer after surgery.
"Our findings suggest that out-of-pocket costs are a significant barrier" to women complying with hormone therapy, said Dr. Alana Biggers, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, and lead investigator on the study. Programs that lower these costs can "improve adherence -- and, hopefully, breast cancer outcomes -- for low-income women," she said.
Biggers presented the results of the study at an Oct. 14 press conference in advance of the American Society for Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium in Boston.
Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths for women of all races, but survival rates differ by race and socioeconomic status, with African American women and women of low income having higher rates of death.
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Source: ScienceDaily
