UCI professor gets $2.3M to analyze insurance effects

UC Irvine economics professor David Neumark has won a share of $2.3 million from the National Cancer Institute to research the health effects of work-based medical insurance on women with breast cancer.

The study will compare the choices of employed, married women with recently diagnosed breast cancer who have employee-contingent health insurance to those with spouse-sponsored insurance.

With his $350,000 share of the grant, Neumark is teaming up with Cathy Bradley of Virginia Commonwealth University to research if women forgo cancer treatment because of work and its implications on their health.

Their research stems from the team’s earlier look on labor market outcomes for people with cancer.

The researchers say if their work shows that women are skipping or delaying treatment because they must work to keep their jobs and stay covered, then that information could be used as an argument for universal health coverage or to improve insurance policies.

— Joseph Serna