[Ron Harvot]

Cost of Treatment - Financial strains

by Ron Harvot on Sat Feb 25, 2012 6:14 pm

This is an article carried on the AP wire today.

It discusses cancer treatment costs generally but is certainly applicable to multiple myeloma. The cost of treating cancer with modern combination thearapy is growing, but so is the financial burden to patients. Cancer drugs of all types cost $6 to $8 thousand per month. Even with insurance the co-pays for perscriptions, infusions and Dr. Visits can be more than $700/month for people on medicare. Middle class people are being squezed the most since they are often not eligible for drug company subsidy payments. Chronic Cancer care is the leading cause of medical bankruptcy filing. Medical costs are the overall leading cause of bankruptcy in this country. This problem does not exist in most industrial countries since they have a national medical plan. But we have not solved this problem in the U.S. and it is getting worse. The cost of treating Chronic cance is growing with the technology and the success of extending survival. As the disease becomes chronic the costs of treatment rise exponentially. Something has to be done.

The article:

Cancer's growing burden: the high cost of care
Published - Feb 25 2012 11:01PM CST

Marilynn Marchione, AP Chief Medical Writer
(The Associated Press)

In this Friday Dec. 20, 2011 photo Patti Tyree sits in front medical bills spread out on her kitchen table in Salem, Va. Tyree has spent more than $10,000 to pay for her breast cancer care despite having good insurance as a retired federal government worker. Tyree was afraid that cancer would steal her future. Instead, the cost of treating it has. She had hoped to buy a small farm with money inherited from her mother. But copayments for just one $18,000 round of breast chemotherapy and one shot of a nearly $15,000 blood-boosting drug cost her $2,000. Bills for other treatments are still coming, and almost half of her $25,000 inheritance is gone. "I supposedly have pretty good insurance," said Tyree, 57, a recently retired federal worker who lives near Roanoke, Va. "How can anybody afford this?" (AP Photo/Don Petersen)
Patti Tyree was afraid that cancer would steal her future. Instead, the cost of treating it has.

She had hoped to buy a small farm with money inherited from her mother. But copayments for just one $18,000 round of breast chemotherapy and one shot of a nearly $15,000 blood-boosting drug cost her $2,000.

For rest of the article, see this link: http://apne.ws/zhD7H8

[Moderator's note: This posting originally included the full text of the article from the Associated Press (AP). However, the AP article is protected by copyright, so only an excerpt has been included here. However, the full content is available by following the link listed just above this note.]

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: Cost of Treatment - Financial strains

by Nancy Shamanna on Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:32 am

'Cost of Cancer Treatments becoming Perfect Fiscal Storm for Canadians'...title of an article from the Globe and Mail newspaper. As the drug plans covered for working people run out on their retirement, many seniors are faced with very high drug costs. Not all cancer drugs approved by Health Canada are covered for all patients in all provinces.

It just seems counterintuitive to me that cancer drugs are priced so high that the very patients who need them cannot afford them. More drugs could be sold to more people if the prices were lower. Insurance companies and governments do pay for a lot of these treatments, but they also must feel a financial strain to cover them.

I am sure that the high cost of developing these new treatments is a factor, and also that they may be very difficult to manufacture, and possibly not in large batches at a time.

It would be helpful if any spokespeople for the drug manufacturing companies could give us some insight into this very serious matter.

Thanks Ron, for bringing up this topic.