Cancer Rates and Unjustified Conclusions

Cancer Rates and Unjustified Conclusions | FactCheck.org

"A number of opponents of new health care legislation, most recently our old friend Betsy McCaughey on 'The Daily Show,' have claimed that cancer survival rates are higher in the U.S. than in countries with nationalized health care."

"It’s certainly the case that we have higher survival rates than the United Kingdom and other countries with nationalized health care."

"But survival rates also differ within the United States, between insured and uninsured populations. The American Cancer Society found that the five-year survival rates for colorectal cancer averaged 63 percent for the privately insured but 49 percent for the uninsured. According to the Lancet study, five-year relative survival rates for colorectal cancer were 59.1 percent in the U.S. and 45.3 percent in Europe. Breast cancer survival rates among the uninsured were also similar to Europe – 85 percent survival for those with private insurance, 75 percent for the uninsured, close to the European average. Rates for people on Medicaid were similar to the uninsured."

And it gets more complicated. Then in another post they describe how it's easy to make claims and often more involved to disprove them. " It really is true that a lot of what we do here is to take what appear to be pretty simple claims and show that the reality is far more complicated than it might appear at first glance. Quite often we find ourselves saying things like, "That’s true, but it’s misleading…""