Financial Toxicity, Cancer Survivors and HELP...

 Financial toxicity is now recognized as a common effect of cancer treatment, which makes The Samfund essential now that more than 630,000 young adults in the United States have some cancer history.  Web Source

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death and disease in the U.S. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that roughly 1.7 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2017 and more than 15 million Americans living today have a cancer history.  Not only does cancer take an enormous toll on the health of patients and survivors—it also has a tremendous financial impact. 

For young adults with cancer, battling the disease can be just the beginning. Medical bills, ruined credit, and trouble finding housing can set cancer survivors back and impede their physical and emotional recovery.

Officers of The Samfund, created to help young adult cancer survivors regain their financial footing, discuss the group’s mission in the current issue of Evidence-Based Oncology, a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care. The commentary by Samantha Watson, MBA, founder and CEO, and Michelle S. Landwehr, MPH, and COO, can be found here.

“Financial toxicity” is now recognized as a common effect of cancer treatment, which makes The Samfund essential now that more than 630,000 young adults in the United States have some cancer history. The Samfund has distributed more than $1.4 million since 2004, according to Watson and Landwehr, who explore the common financial burdens that may not only prevent cancer survivors from moving on with their lives, but may also prevent them from maintaining insurance coverage essential for follow-up care.

While the Affordable Care Act has helped many young cancer survivors, they write, there is still confusion about how it works. To help survivors navigate the ACA, The Samfund has joined with Triage Cancer to present Finances 101: A Toolkit for Young Adults with Cancer. For more information, please visit the website at http://www.thesamfund.org



Link↑↑ for Criticalmass.org 

… ask any cancer survivor and they’ll tell you their cancer story doesn’t end when treatment does. Once a survivor leaves the cocoon of her medical care, she/he feels cast adrift with no safety net. There is no Humpty Dumpty moment when all the pieces of their life are put back together, rebuilding the person they once were. Rather, they find themself still dragging the carcass of their illness behind them. The 2nd Act

                                                                           

THE COST OF TREATMENT:

• Cancer patients in the United States are 3 times more likely to go bankrupt than the general population.
• Adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer report less than $100K in general net worth compared to the general population.
• Nearly one-third of adolescents and young adults diagnosed between 15 and 39 do not go back to school or work full time. As you can see this is a vicious cycle.  web source

Newly approved cancer drugs cost an average of $10,000 per month, with some therapies topping $30,000 per month, according to ASCO, which discussed the costs of cancer care at a recent meeting. Just a decade ago, the average cost per month of new drugs was about $4,500. Patients typically pay 20 to 30 percent out of pocket for drugs, so an average year's worth of new drugs would cost $24,000 to $36,000 in addition to health insurance premiums.

Drugs aren't the only expense. Patients must also pay for drugs that mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy, pay provider and facility fees and often lose income when they miss work or lose their jobs.

Those provider and facility fees are no joke. According to UnitedHealthcare data, drugs themselves account for only 24 percent of direct cancer costs. Hospital and outpatient facilities account for 54 percent of costs, and physician fees account for 22 percent.

"There are many direct and indirect costs of cancer, and that is an unimpeachable fact," Dr. Lowell Schnipper, chairman of the ASCO Value in Cancer Care Task Force, said during a news conference on June 22. -Web Source

Cancer drug costs fluctuate all the time, increasing and decreasing whenever the manufacturer sees fit to change the price. Take Novartis' leukemia drug Gleevec, which cost $24,000 in 2001 when it was approved as a breakthrough drug; now it costs $90,000, according to Forbes. Unfortunately for patients, the cost has little to do with efficacy of the drug or its safety.

For example, a recent clinical trial looked at the safety, efficacy and price of two treatment regimens for metastatic colorectal cancer. Both treatment arms included a standard chemotherapy in addition to one of two antibody drugs known to improve the chemo drug's outcome.

For patients and their families, the costs associated with direct cancer care are staggering. In 2014 cancer patients paid nearly $4 billion out-of-pocket for cancer treatments. Cancer also represents a significant proportion of total U.S. health care spending. Roughly $87.8 billion was spent in 2014 in the U.S. on cancer-related health care.These costs were paid by employers, insurance companies, and taxpayer-funded public programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as by cancer patients and their families. 




There are so many foundations out there that are willing to help out cancer patients with the cost of treatment. If you are looking for help click the " web source" links. Also, the page "SUPPORT" has links to foundations and companies willing to help, which we will be updating to accommodate more shortly.  As always, thank you for visiting, but we are not doctors. If you have a medical emergency please see a physician.