People who did not have insurance or were covered by government programs tended to receive head and neck cancer treatment at hospital types linked with worse survival, according to a study involving >37,000 individuals. Participants were from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2012 and 2013. Investigators looked at the relationship between insurance and provider types. Among the results:

• After adjusting for certain variables, Medicaid, Medicare, and uninsured patients were between 14% more likely and >twice as likely than those who were privately insured to be treated at rural, urban nonteaching, private investor–owned, or government hospitals.
• The trend remained even after adjusting for geographic location.