The cost burden of oral, oral pharyngeal, and salivary gland cancers in three groups: commercial insurance, medicare, and medicaid

Table 2 Mean payments, standard deviation, and cost burden, by payer and population

OC/OP/SG Cancer		Matched Comparison Group	Cost Burden^A	Cost Burden P-value^B
COMMERCIAL^C
Number of enrollees	3,918	3,918
Total Payments, $	79,151	7,419	71,732	<0.001
	(6,170)	(22,665)
Employer Payments, $	74,594	6,200	68,394	<0.001
	(85,023)	(20,046)
Out of pocket payments, $	2,962	829	2,133	<0.001
	(4,990)	(1,211)
Third Party Payments,$	1,595	390	1,205	<0.001
	(12,915)	(6,160)
MEDICARE^D
Number of enrollees	2,303	2,303
Total Payments, $	48,410	12,520	35,890	<0.001
	(61,599)	(27,947)
Employer Payments, $	13,384	4,354	9,030	<0.001
	(23,742)	(12,513)
Out of pocket payments, $	1,747	962	785	<0.001
	(3,068)	(966)
Medicare and Third Party Payments, $^E	33,279	7,204	26,075	<0.001
	(53,223)	(23,036)
MEDICAID^F
Number of enrollees	585	585
Total Payments, $	59,404	14,863	44,541	<0.001
	(74,919)	(28,432)

Standard deviation in parentheses.
For sample with 1 year of follow-up.
Medical and drug expenditures were adjusted to 2009 dollars using Medical Care CPI.
Notes
A: The Cost Burden is calculated as the difference between the mean values for the OC/OP cancer and matched comparison group.
B: The p-value is from a test of statistically significant difference between the OC/OP cancer and comparison group.
C: 6 Patients with a total medical costs exceeding $800,000 in the Commercial database were flagged as outliers, and were excluded before the matching.
D: 9 Patients with a total medical costs exceeding $800,000 in the Medicare database were flagged as outliers, and were excluded before the matching.
E: In the Medicare sample, third party payments or coordination of benefits are primarily Medicare payments, since Medicare pays first of all of the insurance plans that cover an employee. In the Commercial sample, third party payments may come from a variety of sources, such as benefits from a spouse.
F: 3 Patients with total medical costs exceeding $1,000,000 in the Medicaid database were flagged as outliers, and were excluded before the matching.