Medicaid expansion improves access to high-volume hospitals for lung cancer patients (2025)

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A new study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the flagship journal from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, suggests that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has significantly improved access to timely treatment and high-volume hospitals for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These findings underscore the critical role of healthcare policy in delivering quality oncologic care.

Key findings:

Medicaid expansion was associated with an increase in lung cancer surgeries performed at high-volume hospitals, which are associated with decreased rates of postoperative complications and in-hospital mortality rates compared to low-volume hospitals.

Patients in expansion states were more likely to undergo surgery within 90 days of diagnosis compared to those in non-expansion states.

While overall treatment rates within 30 and 90 days decreased nationwide, the decline was less pronounced in states that expanded Medicaid, indicating that insurance coverage plays a role in mitigating delays.

Study findings suggest improved insurance coverage and enhanced access to care may increasingly regionalize oncologic surgical treatment from community-based hospitals to institutions specializing in these operations. However, the patient benefits of performing surgical resections for NSCLC at high-volume hospitals continue to be a matter of debate as it relates to lung cancer resection."

Zamaan Hooda, MD, lead author, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Study details:

Researchers analyzed data from the National Cancer Database, identifying 43,151 patients aged 40-64 diagnosed with stage I-II NSCLC between 2010 and 2016. They used adjusted difference-in-differences analyses to compare treatment trends before and after Medicaid expansion in 2014. The results showed that Medicaid expansion was associated with a 2.8% increase in lung cancer surgeries performed and a 2.1% increase in surgeries completed within 90 days of diagnosis at high-volume hospitals.

"The increase in resections performed at high-volume hospitals suggests that patients in expansion states may have had more options for surgical care compared to patients in non-expansion states," added Dr. Hooda. "With heightened public awareness of hospital outcomes through widely available sources, we speculate that expanded Medicaid coverage may have enabled some patients to seek care at centers they previously could not access."

Future implications:

While this study demonstrates a tangible benefit of Medicaid expansion, further research is needed to determine its effect on the quality of oncologic care. Policymakers and healthcare providers can use this data to advocate for strategies that improve access to timely and high-quality lung cancer treatment nationwide.

Medicaid expansion continues to be a hot button topic with several states choosing not to accept funding. Moreover, many states that have expanded Medicaid risk losing the ability to offer coverage for currently insured individuals if major budgetary cuts are made at the federal level.

Thoracic surgeons are uniquely positioned to influence and contribute to policy-related conversations and decisions. Fortunately, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons shares this conviction, and provides its members the opportunity to help influence healthcare policies through various initiatives, such as the STS Advocacy Conference.

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