Cancer is one of the most dangerous diseases on earth. It has continued to affect a lot of people within the last few decades.
There are different forms of cancers depending on where the abnormal cell growth occurs. Thyroid cancer is one of the rare cancers that have been affecting many people, especially in the US. However, the good news is that it can be detected at early stages and easily treated.
Although thyroid cancer can be treated, not all people can afford the expensive surgery required to treat the disease. With that in mind, a medical reform act in Massachusetts was formed to provide affordable health care insurance programs for thyroid cancer surgeries to the less privileged especially the non-white citizens of Massachusetts. The effect of this affordable insurance policy was a 26% increase in patients who were successfully treated for the disease and another 22% who received neck surgeries for different thyroid related diseases.
The aim of the reform was to curb the rate at which thyroid cancer was growing. Within a decade the growth rate of this cancer was at 5%. Although there were some instances when the cancer was misdiagnosed, the growth rate was still alarming. Today, though in not so many cases, minor infections or growth in thyroid gland are misdiagnosed as cancer forcing patients to go through unnecessary surgeries.
The insurance policy reforms has with no doubt allowed patients to access good medical care. The research was also a good place to start a deeper research on racial discrimination when it comes to accessing medical care, as well as probable misdiagnosis of thyroid-related diseases by doctors for reasons yet to be fully understood.
All in all the 2006 Massachusetts health reform, a model for the Affordable Care Act, saved lives of defenseless people and gave them a second chance at life.
