Posted by Michael Wonder on 03 May 2017
Patient financial assistance programs: a path to affordability or a barrier to accessible cancer care?
1 May 2017 - Prognosis for many patients with cancer is improving as a result of advances in precision, molecularly targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, but the cost of these treatments continues to rise.
One by-product of expensive therapy has been an increase in cost-sharing such that even patients with insurance face a rising and potentially devastating out-of-pocket financial burden.
For example, a patient with metastatic renal cell cancer might consider treatment with nivolumab, a novel immunotherapy drug that improves median survival by almost 6 months; however, if the patient has Medicare without supplemental insurance or private insurance with 20% coinsurance, he or she could face up to $13,000 in direct costs for this therapy.
