No one wants a cancer diagnosis, but if you get one, AARP magazine says you should 1. See a medical specialist and 2. A money manager. The statistics are sobering: cancer patients are 2 ½ times more likely to declare bankruptcy than healthy people and those who do so are 80 percent more likely to die than other cancer patients. The diagnosis is tough and if you’re lucky enough to have insurance, there are deductibles and co-pays that add up. Add in the cost of travel, lost work, at home care needs, unmet financial responsibilities, and you have a formula for financial disaster. New cancer treatments are being offered as research continues and this new hope comes with a stiff price tag. Some regimens come in at over $100,000 per year, making the cost of a heart attack seem mild.
So, if it happens to you, what options do you have to prevent a financial meltdown, adding to the stress of the disease? AARP again offers advice. “Find prescription discounts, call the drug makers directly and speak to the customer assistance team. Look for charitable grants, your hospital may be able to guide you. Finally, look for help in covering living and traveling expenses at cancer.net.”
Since many cancer patients get caught in a coverage gap, too young for Medicare, too affluent for Medicaid, they just quit paying the bills. Suffering through biopsies, “scan-xiety,” surgery, and treatment is bad enough, even with a favorable outcome, but also unfortunate, the duty of paying for it is even more daunting.
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