the Price of Oncology

The service was indicated after a lump was discovered late for this uninsured patient.

Drug therapy was started immediately. This comprised about $35,000 of the total cost. The disease was not slowed in its progression, so the patient moved into a semi-private hospital room. This ran up about $15,000 in charges, before hospice care began.

In the end stages, the patient was released from the hospital to return home and live out her remaining days in hospice care. This cost about $5000, with another $2500 in palliative pain medication.

Doctor fees were about $20,000.

Much of this was put onto credit cards as the patient was not covered by health insurance (she worked 33 hours per week, her employer limiting her time specifically to avoid being obligated to provide health coverage). The doctors speculated that she would have had a greater chance had the disease been detected earlier in the course of routine well care. As with most uninsured patients, well-care visits were not taken and the disease progressed without the patient's knowledge to a point of no return.

The unsuccessful attempts to manage this patient were delivered with compassion and concern, and more than a hint of frustration at the fact that a tragedy could have been prevented with proper well care as one typically receives when covered by insurance.

Get insurance, or support health reform so that those who with "pre-existing" conditions or who are unemployed are not forced into deep debt and gloomy prognoses by being uninsured.

Choose a provider with a strong oncology team, preferably one affiliated with one of the major cancer research centers (Sloan-Kettering, M. A. Anderson, etc.)