Insurance Type and Appendicitis

An interesting article in the New York Times titled "Likelihood of Burst Appendix Tied to Insurance".

From the report, "But the kind of insurance — or lack of it — had a significant effect. Compared with patients who had private insurance coverage, those on Medicare were 14 percent more likely to have a burst appendix, people on Medicaid were 22 percent more likely, and those with no insurance at all were 18 percent more likely to have a rupture. The differences persisted even after controlling for age, sex, socioeconomic status, type of hospital and other factors."

The authors admit that this is a retrospective study and it is unclear the reasons why the difference was seen.