Death or Debt? That is the question that begins the title of a recent study that is examining “financial toxicity” for patients with newly diagnosed cancer. Treatment for cancer is often a long and difficult process, and it is certainly not cheap. It is probably safe to say that things are even worse for patients with rare cancers, as they often lack a set treatment standard or use more unusual or experimental drugs that almost always cost more than run of the mill chemo.
About The Study
This study looked at 9.5 million new cancer cases over a twelve year period, from 2000 to 2012. The researchers looked at changes in financial conditions like debt and net worth at two years post diagnosis and four years post diagnosis. The results from this study were not too encouraging. Only two years after diagnosis, 42 percent of patients had already completely depleted their assets, and average losses were over $92,000. At four years, this percentage was 38.2 percent, which is only a modest improvement.
Financial Toxicity
The term financial toxicity in this study refers to the unexpected and often severe financial burden that comes with treating a serious disease like cancer. The term not only incorporates objective changes to the financial situation for a patient, but also their subjective experience and understanding of their monetary situation. More than half of the cases saw serious indicators of financial distress, such as loss of independence, the breakdown of relationships, house repossession, and bankruptcy.
Struggle
This kind of data perhaps paints more clearly than ever the true burden of being a patient with rare cancer. Not only are you facing the possibility of a lethal disease and having to deal with the discomfort of symptoms and the side effects of strong anticancer drugs, but the cherry on top is the delightful prospect of complete financial ruin. It really does take a tremendous amount of courage to survive a cancer diagnosis and come out the other side with a shred of sanity.
Generally, the study found that patients with disadvantages such as lower overall socioeconomic status, poorer overall health, and more severe disease were at the greatest risk of financial toxicity. Clearly, more must be done to help reduce the impact of financial toxicity.
