Recent Article Highlights Financial Burden of a Cancer Diagnosis

Excerpts Appeared in the May 29, 2024, print edition as 'Cancer Costs Destroy Finances: ‘It Broke Me’ by Brianna Abbott and Peter Loftus.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, cancer is creating economic strain for many patients in our country due to higher drug prices, rising out-of-pocket costs and reduced incomes. The following excerpts detail the financial toxicity a cancer diagnosis carries for families.

“The economic burden of a cancer diagnosis is getting strikingly worse in the U.S., as drug and medical costs soar and more patients live longer with the disease. About 55% of cancer drugs introduced between 2019 and 2023 cost at least $200,000 a year, according to Iqvia’s Institute for Human Data Science. And an increasing number of patients are working-age, a group more likely to report financial hardship after diagnosis compared with older adults.

Nearly 60% of working-age cancer survivors report facing some financial difficulty. Many patients struggle to afford care and end up taking on debt, with some getting payday loans or running up credit cards. Cancer alone accounts for some 40% of medical campaigns seeking financial help on GoFundMe, research shows.

Among common diseases, cancer creates a uniquely difficult financial strain known as financial toxicity. Treatments with expensive medicines start immediately and come with a string of nonmedical costs. Chemotherapy and other treatments can leave patients too weak to work for weeks or months. This can result in a twofold blow, with patients losing income and their employer-sponsored health insurance. The financial fallout can last for years.

Many insurers have shifted rising healthcare costs to patients. Some employer-backed plans require patients to pay a percentage of a drug’s cost, which can add up to thousands of dollars. One report found a 15% increase in out-of-pocket costs for privately insured, working-age cancer patients from 2009 to 2016. Patients also foot the bill for transportation, lodging, child care and parking.

The added costs are only part of the toll, with people’s livelihoods also put at risk. Many patients have to take time off—or actually stop working—after a cancer diagnosis. Patients who get chemotherapy are more likely to stop working within four years than those who don’t.

The burden often affects entire families, with relatives pitching in financially or caring for their sick loved ones.

People with cancer are at higher risk of ending up late on credit-card payments, mortgage payments, and experiencing other financial challenges than noncancer patients, according to research co-written by Dr. Scott Ramsey, director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Other research shows that patients with more out-of-pocket costs are more likely to delay starting their medications or stop taking them. Ramsey and his co-authors also found that cancer patients who file for bankruptcy had an 80% higher risk of dying than cancer patients who didn’t file.

The mounting hardship has inspired advocates and doctors to find patchwork solutions, but there are still major gaps in the safety net.

More cancer centers are offering assistance for patients with financial problems, and nonprofits help patients pay for food, travel and other needs. But their funding is limited, and many people don’t know how to find these resources.”

If you know of an individual in our community* who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer and struggling financially due to their diagnosis, please have them contact Shades of Pink Foundation at 248.729.3166 or email clientservices.sopf@gmail.com. We will provide information about our application process and eligibility requirements.

*Shades of Pink Foundation offers temporary financial assistance to residents of Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties.