5%; P = 0.071). The distribution of insurance types among potential treatment candidates was not significantly different from the distribution in the entire HCV+ cohort. There was little difference in the sociodemographic and health-related characteristics between treatment eligible patients with and without health insurance (Table 4). However, when we considered different types of insurance, HCV+ treatment candidates covered by Medicare or Medicaid were less likely to have a college degree (no cases) and to be married (14.9% versus 40.2% in all HCV treatment candidates) than uninsured.

On the other hand, HCV treatment candidates ABT-199 supplier with private or military/state/government plans had lower prevalence of chronic diseases such as asthma, arthritis, and diabetes (4.6%, 13.7%, and 1.8% versus 12.0%, 27.2%, and 5.1% MDV3100 in vivo for all HCV treatment candidates, respectively). The patterns of health care use also varied by the type of health insurance: uninsured HCV

treatment candidates were significantly less likely to use doctors’ offices or HMOs to receive health care compared with those with Medicare/Medicaid and were far more likely to be hospitalized in the year prior to the survey than those with private insurance. In addition to the described sociodemographic and clinical factors, we also examined the following laboratory parameters: blood creatinine and albumin, ALT, AST, APRI,18 total bilirubin, medchemexpress complete blood count, fasting glucose and insulin, triglycerides, and total cholesterol together with high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and found no differences between groups based on their insurance coverage or treatment candidacy (Supporting Table 1). This is a comprehensive study based on recent population-based data that assesses the health insurance coverage and treatment candidacy of HCV-infected individuals in the United States. Our data show that only a third of HCV-infected individuals in the United States can potentially benefit from and have access to antiviral treatment; the remaining individuals are either uninsured or have potential contraindications

to antiviral treatment. We found that approximately two-thirds of HCV-infected individuals in the United States may be potential candidates for treatment. However, only half of these individuals have any form of health insurance coverage. Although treatment exclusions due to absolute contraindications will likely remain an issue, our data show that by removing the insurance-related barrier, twice as many HCV individuals may gain access to potentially effective treatment regimens for hepatitis C. Our study also shows that, regardless of their treatment candidacy, individuals with chronic hepatitis C have a very low rate of health care insurance coverage. In the United States, HCV+ individuals are twice more likely not to have health insurance than their counterparts without HCV infection.