A new report by the American Cancer Society shows that Americans spent $87.8 billion on cancer treatment and related health care in 2014.
About $4 billion of that total cost of treatment and care was paid for by patients out of pocket, the report states; however, out-of-pocket costs made up the smallest percentage of how people paid for care.
A large percentage of care was paid for by private insurance and Medicare.
Jennifer Singleterry, senior policy analyst for the society’s Cancer Action Network, said that with the increased focus on the cost of insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act, her group is also looking closely at other costs associated with care, including high co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance, as well as some costs to cancer treatment that are not covered by insurance.
Singleterry said that low-premium insurance plans are not always cost-effective for cancer patients if they have high cost-sharing.
“It’s crucial to give cancer patients and survivors access to affordable health insurance,” Singleterry said.
It’s even more crucial that they are able to use that insurance to cover the cost of cancer treatment, she added.
In New Hampshire, there are about 8,600 new cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society’s 2017 data compilation. The greatest number of cases are breast cancer in women and leukemia.
However, the incidence rate for cancer in New Hampshire has fallen in recent years. Between 2009 and 2011, there were about 503 cancer cases per 100,000 people in the Granite State. That dropped to 467 per 100,000 people from 2012 to 2014, according to New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Over half of all cancer cases in the state were diagnosed in the early stages, according to the DHHS report.
This is the first year that the American Cancer Society compiled a report on the cost of treatment, in part because the organization wanted to include complete data of patients insured through the Affordable Care Act, according to Singleterry.
(Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct amount of out-of-pockeElla Nilsen can be reached at 369-3322, enilsen@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @ella_nilsen.)