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Home > Press Center > Press Releases from 2007 Annual Meeting > Insurance Status Predicts Vascular Patients’ Access to Care

Contact:
Emily Kalata
Assistant Director, Communications
312.334.2309

Researchers have recently analyzed the data of 187,359 patients from Florida and New York who presented with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), carotid artery disease (CR) or severe lower extremity arterial disease (LER), to compare their outcomes based on their insurance status. Some patients only had Medicaid or no insurance, while others had Medicare, commercial insurance or were part of a health maintenance organization (HMO). 

Patients with Medicaid or no insurance were twice as likely to present with a ruptured AAA or with CR that had already caused symptoms (stroke or mini-stroke). These same patients were significantly more likely to have LER, presenting with limb threatening ischemia vs. claudication.

Nicholas J. Morrissey, MD, assistant professor of surgery, division of vascular surgery, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Weill Medical College of Cornell in New York City, noted that after treatment CR and AAA patients’ outcomes were similar. However, in the case of LER, the outcomes were diminished in patients who had Medicaid and no insurance, with a higher rate of postoperative amputations.          

These findings were presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Society for Vascular Surgery by Jeannine K Giacovelli, MD, from the division of vascular surgery, New York Presbyterian Hospital and International Center for Health Outcomes and Innovation Research, Columbia University Health Sciences, also in New York City.  

“Patients with no insurance or Medicaid often seek medical attention later, thus present with more advanced vascular disease compared to those with other types of insurance,” said Dr. Morrissey. “Preventive and diagnostic care may not be as readily available to this group of patients. Their disease may be detected only when advanced symptoms develop, but once treated most tend to do as well as the patients with insurance or Medicare.

“It seems that we deliver nearly equivalent care to patients once they require treatment, but we fail to provide appropriate educational, preventive and diagnostic care to the underinsured in our country,” added Dr. Morrissey. “Effective use of limited resources directed at education, prevention and diagnosis of common vascular diseases in the underinsured could significantly improve the outcomes in this population.”