The Cost of Cancer
Monday, February 28, 2011
The Cost of Cancer
As promised, I wanted to do a “report” covering “The Cost of Cancer”. Let me start by saying I believe that cancer is the most expensive disease out there. I have not researched the topic that much so I’m just guessing here.
I was always taught that life was precious and priceless. Let me tell you, hospitals have figured out a way to put a price on it, for sure. The figures below are from my actual bills. When I was first diagnosed with cancer in August 2010 it took the entire month of July to get that diagnoses. I didn’t really keep up with the cost then. This is because we were so distraught about getting a cancer diagnoses, the cost didn’t matter. That was of course until it was time to start paying the bills.
When I started chemotherapy at Vanderbilt each treatment ran a little over $10,000.00 every other week. Unfortunately the treatments weren’t helping all that much. My tumor markers were going up instead of down. They didn’t put me on one chemo drug that I needed because I was either pre-op, post-op or they were worried about my blood pressure.
After the phone call from Vanderbilt saying they had done all they could do etc etc. I called Cancer Treatment Centers of America. If you have read any of my blog, you know how I feel about them. I’ll go ahead and say it again here. They are the best cancer treatment option available.....period. Of course that’s my opinion, and the opinion of every patient I’ve spoken with.
So going back to the cost here. My first visit to CTCA was for an evaluation. I spent about 8 days there. When I got the bill, I thought there was some sort of mistake. It was for $83,000.00. This does not include the out of pocket expenses. I have to pay for my room, naturopathic medicines and food out of pocket as they occur.
When I got the next bill it was for $87,000.00. Looking at the bill I found that one of my chemo drugs is $57,000.00 alone. I get 4 chemo drugs. If you are keeping count, that’s $170,000.00 per month for treatment. Again, I’m not sure how that compares to other diseases or even trauma, but I know it has to be quite high on the list.
Yes, I’m one of the lucky ones. My insurance covers 90%. I know there are a lot of people that are not able to go to CTCA because their insurance will not allow it. I feel deeply sorry for them. Going back to my insurance paying 90%; That still leaves about $17,000.00 per month out of pocket not including what insurance does not cover.
So I want to move on from the “Cost of Cancer” to how to get help paying for it. We have checked into all (I think) of the non-profits “helping” with cancer. I don’t want to introduce negativity into my blog. But. All but a couple of organizations do not help cancer patients. yes, you read that right. The organizations raise money for cancer research. We are talking about over a billion dollars per year raised just for research. This leads me to ask; If a large portion of cancer research is funded via “donations” and non-profits, then why are chemo drugs so expensive? The drug companies say the cost of a drug is to pay for research. Something just does not add up there, if you ask me. But I have to stop talking about it, here because it just upsets me.
So on a positive note, I’m doing a bit of research on starting a non-profit just to help cancer patients pay for their treatment. None of the money would go to research. If you have any information or would like to help in some way, please contact me. I don’t want to see a cancer patient turned away from treatment, or have worry about paying rent, mortgage, utilities etc, or get chemo. Again, if you can help in some way please contact me. I know for a fact we are going to need legal help. Once we get this up and going we are going to need to get the word out to potential donors and recipients.
I really want to “give back” or “Pay it forward” or whatever it’s called. I have several projects that I want to see come to life and that is one of them. I’ve already started my other “cancer project”. It includes working with my oncologist to answer some of the questions people have about cancer. It’s called “Dr Jag’s Cancer Answers” and you can see what we are doing here.
As always, thank you for all of your support and prayers. Everything is looking good for me right now so the prayers are working. If you have any questions or comments you can leave them here or e-mail me directly.
As promised, I wanted to do a “report” covering “The Cost of Cancer”. Let me start by saying I believe that cancer is the most expensive disease out there. I have not researched the topic that much so I’m just guessing here.
I was always taught that life was precious and priceless. Let me tell you, hospitals have figured out a way to put a price on it, for sure. The figures below are from my actual bills. When I was first diagnosed with cancer in August 2010 it took the entire month of July to get that diagnoses. I didn’t really keep up with the cost then. This is because we were so distraught about getting a cancer diagnoses, the cost didn’t matter. That was of course until it was time to start paying the bills.
When I started chemotherapy at Vanderbilt each treatment ran a little over $10,000.00 every other week. Unfortunately the treatments weren’t helping all that much. My tumor markers were going up instead of down. They didn’t put me on one chemo drug that I needed because I was either pre-op, post-op or they were worried about my blood pressure.
After the phone call from Vanderbilt saying they had done all they could do etc etc. I called Cancer Treatment Centers of America. If you have read any of my blog, you know how I feel about them. I’ll go ahead and say it again here. They are the best cancer treatment option available.....period. Of course that’s my opinion, and the opinion of every patient I’ve spoken with.
So going back to the cost here. My first visit to CTCA was for an evaluation. I spent about 8 days there. When I got the bill, I thought there was some sort of mistake. It was for $83,000.00. This does not include the out of pocket expenses. I have to pay for my room, naturopathic medicines and food out of pocket as they occur.
When I got the next bill it was for $87,000.00. Looking at the bill I found that one of my chemo drugs is $57,000.00 alone. I get 4 chemo drugs. If you are keeping count, that’s $170,000.00 per month for treatment. Again, I’m not sure how that compares to other diseases or even trauma, but I know it has to be quite high on the list.
Yes, I’m one of the lucky ones. My insurance covers 90%. I know there are a lot of people that are not able to go to CTCA because their insurance will not allow it. I feel deeply sorry for them. Going back to my insurance paying 90%; That still leaves about $17,000.00 per month out of pocket not including what insurance does not cover.
So I want to move on from the “Cost of Cancer” to how to get help paying for it. We have checked into all (I think) of the non-profits “helping” with cancer. I don’t want to introduce negativity into my blog. But. All but a couple of organizations do not help cancer patients. yes, you read that right. The organizations raise money for cancer research. We are talking about over a billion dollars per year raised just for research. This leads me to ask; If a large portion of cancer research is funded via “donations” and non-profits, then why are chemo drugs so expensive? The drug companies say the cost of a drug is to pay for research. Something just does not add up there, if you ask me. But I have to stop talking about it, here because it just upsets me.
So on a positive note, I’m doing a bit of research on starting a non-profit just to help cancer patients pay for their treatment. None of the money would go to research. If you have any information or would like to help in some way, please contact me. I don’t want to see a cancer patient turned away from treatment, or have worry about paying rent, mortgage, utilities etc, or get chemo. Again, if you can help in some way please contact me. I know for a fact we are going to need legal help. Once we get this up and going we are going to need to get the word out to potential donors and recipients.
I really want to “give back” or “Pay it forward” or whatever it’s called. I have several projects that I want to see come to life and that is one of them. I’ve already started my other “cancer project”. It includes working with my oncologist to answer some of the questions people have about cancer. It’s called “Dr Jag’s Cancer Answers” and you can see what we are doing here.
As always, thank you for all of your support and prayers. Everything is looking good for me right now so the prayers are working. If you have any questions or comments you can leave them here or e-mail me directly.
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