In a new, large study led by the American Cancer Society (ACS), scientists found that survival disparities by health insurance and race among women newly diagnosed with breast cancer widened over time in the United States. The findings will be presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium in Chicago, October 10-11, 2025.

Researchers, led by Dr. Jingxuan Zhao at the American Cancer Society, identified 1,009,479 women aged 18-64 newly diagnosed with breast cancer during 2004-2022 from the National Cancer Database. Scientists compare survival after cancer diagnosis over time by health insurance status and race and ethnicity (Private- non-Hispanic White (NHW), Medicaid-NHW, uninsured-NHW, Private- non-Hispanic Black (NHB), Medicaid-NHB, and uninsured-NHB), controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, including zip code-level median income.

Study results showed that, compared to women racialized as NHW with private insurance at diagnosis, worse survival was observed for all other groups, with survival disparities widening over time by health insurance coverage and race, especially in recent years.

Researchers emphasized that policies aimed at improving health insurance coverage and financial assistance to ensure treatment advances are affordable to all patients may improve equitable survival.

This story was published by the American Cancer Society on October 11, 2025. It is republished with permission.