On Cost and Cancer in America
A Twitter conversation on the financial devastation that often follows a cancer diagnosis in the US, where treatment is expensive—and even those fortunate to have jobs and health insurance can be crushed by medical debt.
- Skimming headlines yesterday, I read a "feel-good" cancer news item making the rounds about a 6-year-old boy in Texas who helped his father pay for cancer treatment by opening a lemonade stand.
When life hands you cancer, make cancer-ade: via lemonade stand, 6yo boy raises $10K for dad's chemoA story making the rounds this week : Drew Cox, a 6 year old boy in Texas, " decided to sell lemonade to help his father with medical bil...- Downright Dickensian.
This should make America feel shame, not feel good: 6yo boy raises $10K via lemonade stand to pay for dad's chemo. on.msnbc.com/I4h2US- Responses flowed in from cancer survivors who have personally experienced the injustice of cancer costs in America.
@chemobrainfog @xeni That's not really that much chemo, either -- 10K worth? People don't know how much cancer costs. LOT$$$$!!!!- She's right. Depending on the provider, the drug, and the patient's insurance coverage, $10K might even buy you just one chemo infusion. Or half of one. And chemotherapy typically requires a lot more than one infusion.Helen Walters points out that the issue has broad cultural impact, too:
- A number of my followers shared their personal stories linking job struggles and cancer struggles. For many, insurance is inextricably linked with employment. And employment in America is anything but secure.
@marykvalle @chemobrainfog @xeni My wife's mastectomy was over $102K. Each chemo is $3K or so. Without insurance, we'd be bankrupt.
@xeni @cwoodfield The day I lose coverage and it comes back is the day I walk in front of a bus...- Your home or your life. Choose one.
- Here are my wrists, a few days ago. When I walked in to the chemo clinic, before they hooked me up to my drip I was presented with a bill for more than a thousand dollars: my out-of-pocket, after insurance. I get a bill every two weeks, each time I go in for an infusion.
- I joke to my friends that I wear the wrist-band because I "HOPE" I can figure out how to cover all of the costs of my treatment—and the drugs needed to deal with the side effects of that treatment.
- Chemo-nomics. Here's $500 worth of a drug that works, 3 doses, vs $100 or less of medical cannabis, many many doses. instagr.am/p/HZLJ8FSeBE/
- It's really hard on older Americans, at or past retirement age.
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- Susan Diazhttp://www.schoolanduniversity.com/study-programs/health-care/radiation-therapy2012-11-09T10:46:24.805Z
- Susan Diazhttp://www.schoolanduniversity.com/study-programs/health-care/radiation-therapy2012-11-09T10:46:24.805Z
