11 October 2016 - Chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer can vary wildly in price even when they are comparable in their ability to combat tumors, a U.S. study suggests.

“We found that patients had high out-of-pocket costs related to their breast cancer treatment, particularly those patients who were insured through high deductible health plans,” said lead study author Dr. Sharon Giordano, a researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“The high costs of care may leave some patients unable to pay their medical bills or afford their potentially life-saving medications,” Giordano added by email.

At least one third of the roughly 250,000 women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer each year in the U.S. receive chemotherapy, and allowing them to choose equally effective but less costly regimens might reduce costs of treating these tumors by $1 billion, Giordano said.

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