Help from the ACA — Gynecologic Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Young Women

Healthcare coverage for women aged 21 to 26 increased substantially after implementation of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) dependent coverage mandate allowing them to remain on their parents' private insurance coverage. To measure how this affected diagnosis and treatment of gynecologic cancers (cervical, uterine, ovarian, vulvar, and vaginal), investigators used the National Cancer Database in a difference-in-differences approach to assess such outcomes before and after the ACA in this age group versus a comparison group of older women (age range, 27–35).

Following the ACA, the proportion of insured young women increased more than the proportion of older women; similarly, the proportion of young women diagnosed at an early stage of gynecol…