Cancer Patients Struggle as Drug Costs Soar: Study

Cancer Patients Struggle as Drug Costs Soar: Study TUESDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) --Increasing out-of-pocket expenses forcesmany cancer patients in the United States toforgo drugs and doctor appointments andto cut back on food and other necessities, anew study reveals.The researchers looked at 216 cancerpatients who sought help from the nationalnonprofit HealthWell Foundation, whichhelps underinsured patients affordexpensive medications. All but one patienthad insurance, two-thirds were covered byMedicare and 83 percent had prescriptiondrug coverage. Most of the patients werewomen (88 percent) with breast cancer (76percent).The patients' out-of-pocket expensesaveraged $712 a month for things such asprescription drugs, doctor visit copays, lostwages and travel to medical appointments.These expenses were a significant problemfor 30 percent of the patients and acatastrophic problem for 11 percent,according to the researchers at DukeUniversity Medical Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.The study didn't examine whether patientssuffered worse outcomes because oftreatment choices they were forced to makedue to financial problems. However, theresearchers did find that patients took fewermedications due to costs and were lesssatisfied with their care when out-of-pocketexpenses caused hardship.The data and conclusions of this study,which was scheduled for presentationMonday at the annual meeting of theAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology inChicago, should be viewed as preliminaryuntil published in a peer-reviewed journal."Overall, this study provides a patient-centered view of a reality of modern daycancer care -- something that we call'financial toxicity,'" senior author Dr. AmyAbernethy, an associate professor in Duke'smedical oncology division, said in a Dukenews release."We used to think about chemotherapytoxicity in terms of bad side effects likevomiting, nerve pain, confusion and risk offatal infection. Now we are starting to thinkin terms of how treatment choices impactreal aspects of daily living such as the abilityto buy groceries or not," she added. Cancer Patients Struggle as Drug Costs Soar: Study