Health Changes in Low Income Men Transitioning from a State Funded Prostate Cancer Program to Comprehensive Insurance

Purpose: We evaluated the effect of transitioning from a prostate cancer specific treatment program to comprehensive insurance under the ACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) on the physical, mental and prostate cancer related health of poor, previously uninsured men.Materials and Methods: We assessed general and prostate cancer specific health related quality of life using the RAND SF-12v2™ (12-Item Short Form Survey, version 2) and the UCLA PCI (Prostate Cancer Index) at 3 time points in 24 men who transitioned to comprehensive insurance as the insured group relative to 39 who remained in the prostate cancer program as the control group. We used mixed effects models controlling for treatment and patient factors to measure health differences between the groups during the transition period.Results: Demographics, prostate cancer treatment patterns, and mental, physical and general health were similar before transition in the control and insured groups. After transition men who gained insurance c...