Medicaid expansion and surgery for HPB/GI cancers: NCDB difference-in-difference analysis.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: It is unclear if Medicaid expansion improved access to surgical resection for hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental, cohort study using difference-in-difference analysis to evaluate differences in surgical resection for HPB/GI cancers in the post-Medicaid expansion era compared to the pre-Medicaid expansion era among patients residing in states that had Medicaid expansion versus not. RESULTS: During the pre- (2011-2013) and post-Medicaid expansion (2015-2017) eras, there were 49,954 patients between the ages of 40-64 who had liver cancer (n = 19,384; 38.8%), pancreatic cancer (n = 14,351; 28.7%), colorectal liver metastasis (n = 7566; 15.1%), or gastric cancer (n = 8653; 17.3%). 43.2% resided in expansion states (n = 21,577). There were no significant differences in the overall rates of surgical resection between expansion and non-expansion states before and after Medicaid expansion. CONCLUSIONS: Medicaid expansion did not impact surgical resection for HPB/GI cancers.