Cancer drugs cost way too much and it's time to take steps to bring the price down, 118 of the country's top cancer experts said Thursday. 

They think patients should start calling loud and clear for reforms, and say government programs such as Medicare should have the power to negotiate lower drug prices, as national insurance plans in other countries do. 

Their plan, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, escalates the debate over the newest cancer drugs, which can save lives but can cost upwards of $100,000 a year per patient. 

"In the United States, the average price of new cancer drugs increased 5- to 10-fold over 15 years, to more than $100,000 per year in 2012," Dr. Ayalew Tefferi of the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Hagop Kantarjian of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr. Eric. Winer of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and other top oncologists wrote. 

"In 2014, all new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cancer drugs were priced above $120,000 per year of use," they noted.

For more details, go to: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/experts-weigh-how-make-cancer-drugs-affordable-n397336