Recent reports have emerged indicating that an as increasing out-of-pocket expenses may force many cancer patients in the United States to do without drugs and doctor appointments and to cut back on food and other things they might need.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers looked at 216 cancer patients who sought help from the national nonprofit HealthWell Foundation.
This is a foundation that helps underinsured patients afford expensive medications.
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Very tellingly, everyone except one patient had insurance, two-thirds were covered by Medicare and 83 percent had prescription drug coverage. Most of the patients were women (88 percent) with breast cancer (76 percent).
Nonetheless, it is noteworthy of mention that the the study didn’t examine whether patients suffered worse outcomes because of treatment choices they were forced to make due to financial problems.
Still, it should be pointed out that the researchers in fact did discover that patients took fewer medications due to costs and were less satisfied with their care when out-of-pocket expenses caused hardship.
“Overall, this study provides a patient-centered view of a reality of modern day cancer care — something that we call ‘financial toxicity,’” senior author Dr. Amy Abernethy, an associate professor in Duke’s medical oncology division, said in a Duke news release.
To conclude, Dr. Amy Abernethy said: “We used to think about chemotherapy toxicity in terms of bad side effects like vomiting, nerve pain, confusion and risk of fatal infection. Now we are starting to think in terms of how treatment choices impact real aspects of daily living such as the ability to buy groceries or not,”
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