For cancer patients, the latest price tag of life is approximately $11,325 a month. While health care welcomes new advances in cancer treatment, the cost is also booming, crippling those who cannot afford the new medication.
The Price Inflation Of Cancer Treatment
A new study from the University of North Carolina found out that since the 2000s started, the price of drugs had swelled up hysterically, more than six times the average amount. In 2000, a cancer patient could get treated at $1,869 a month as opposed to 2014 when medicine are averagely priced at $11,325 a month. Even with inflation during the fourteen-year span already accounted, the price is just unreasonable especially for patients who cannot pay.
Arguably, most Americans are covered by health insurance but it's still not enough to shoulder the whole cost. Money had just made the cancer patient's chord to life almost inaccessible.
"Patients are increasingly taking on the burden of paying for these high-cost specialty drugs as plans move toward use of higher deductibles and co-insurance -- where a patient will pay a percentage of the drug cost rather than a flat copay," Stacie Dusetzina, Ph.D., author of the study said in a press release from the University of North Carolina.
Are The Prices Of New Drugs Worth It?
The new cancer drugs, pills in form, are tempting despite their expensive cost. Because unlike chemotherapy, the medication is "more sophisticated" and "gentle" in approach, according to a report by HNGN.com.
Nonetheless, if the price rate keeps increasing at the same pace, the accessibility of health care in the long run is off to a grim phase. While the study has its limitations, such as the exclusion of federal-state insurance spending (Medicare or Medicaid) and inclusion only of products provided by commercial health plans, the bottom line is that cancer treatment is getting more and more expensive.
