Jeff Zisselman sharing The Young Are More Likely to Be Bankrupted by Cancer

Source: http://www.everydayhealth.com/cancer/young-and-bankrupted-by-cancer-2694.aspx

Dear World!

Almost twice as many cancer patients file for bankruptcy as people who do not have cancer, finds a new study. Young cancer patients are especially hard hit.

A cancer diagnosis can be devastating for a family on an emotional level, but the often overlooked financial ramifications can be similarly crippling, according to a study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Using financial and medical records of 197,840 people in Western Washington, researchers found a strong link between cancer diagnoses and bankruptcy filings.

Overall, 6,699 people in the group studies filed for bankruptcy between 1995 to 2009. A majority of those people — 4,408 — filed for bankruptcy after being diagnosed with cancer. Younger cancer patients in particular were at risk: Their bankruptcy rate was two- to five-fold higher than that of older patients.

“Although the risk of bankruptcy for cancer patients is relatively low in absolute terms, bankruptcy represents an extreme manifestation of what is probably a larger picture of economic hardship for cancer patients,” the authors wrote, “Our study thus raises important questions about the factors underlying the relationship between cancer and financial hardship.”

The number of bankrupt patients also varied depending on the form of cancer. Approximately 23 percent of all bankrupt cancer patients had breast cancer. But after adjusting for the total number of cancer cases, breast cancer patients actually had a relatively small 5.7 percent bankruptcy rate.

Thyroid cancer patients had the highest bankruptcy rate, at 9.3 percent. The second highest rate was in people with lung cancer. And although the smallest percentage of cancer patients who had gone bankrupt were those diagnosed with uterine cancer (4 percent), their rate of bankruptcy was third highest — 6.8 percent.

The Affordable Cancer Care Act?

One explanation for the correlation between cancer treatment and bankruptcy is the high cost of cancer treatment.

“The average cost of a 30-day cancer drug prescription was more than $1,600 in 2006 and it’s even higher today,” according to the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) website.

The monthly cost for treating other diseases is much lower. Diabetes can cost anywhere from $350 to $900 a month. Hypertension treatment has been studied to cost approximately $950 for the first year of treatment, and cheaper for each year after.

The authors hope that the new study helps doctors find the most effective, but also the most affordable, treatment plan for their patients.

“It is important to have a dialogue with your cancer care provider about all your concerns about your cancer treatment,” said study author Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The Fred Hutchinson study used data from as late as 2009. But the landscape of healthcare in the United States has changed since then — most notably, the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

“One of the important questions is the role that health insurance plays in mitigating the risk for bankruptcy or other financial hardship,” said Dr. Ramsey.  “One of the limitations of our study was the lack of insurance data — we hope that future studies will be able to include patient financial and insurance information at the time of cancer diagnosis.”

The ACS offers an easy-to-read guide that explains how the Affordable Care Act can help cancer patients and their families.

“The Affordable Care Act is improving the quality and cost of health care in the United States for people with cancer and those at risk for cancer. The law is not perfect, but it will make health care more adequate, affordable, and available. And it will be easier to administer for cancer patients, survivors, and their families,” said the ACS.

Whether the Affordable Care Act will help cancer patients avoid bankruptcy is still unclear, but the ACS remains optimistic for a few reasons: The act puts an end to limits on care and benefits, doesn’t allow higher fees for people who are already sick, and extends the age limit for children on their parent’s healthcare to 26.

That stipulation, in particular, may help younger people avoid cancer-related bankruptcy.

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