Cancer Medical Costs Doubled In Past Two Decades

Reported May 10, 2010

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- As cancer treatments have advanced over the past two decades, their price has also skyrocketed. The cost of treating cancer has almost doubled over the past 20 years, a new study shows.

The team of researchers, led by Florence Tangka, Ph.D., a health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), examined cancer cost data from 1987 and compared it to data gathered between 2001 and 2005. They found in 1987, cancer costs added up to $24.7 billion pricetag (in 2007 dollars). The cost today: $48.1 billion.

Researchers say the bulging cost is due to new cases diagnosed in the aging population and the increase in the prevalence of cancer.

Two decades ago, private insurance paid for the majority of services (42 percent) followed by Medicare (33 percent). Seventeen percent of cancer treatment costs were financed out-of-pocket, 7 percent came from other public sources, and Medicaid paid for 1 percent.

Between 2001 and 2005, private insurance paid for half of cancer costs, followed by Medicare (34 percent), out-of-pocket payments (8 percent), public sources (5 percent) and Medicaid (3 percent).

The study also revealed cancer treatment has shifted more towards outpatient care, rather than inpatient treatments. Inpatient hospital admissions dropped from 64.4 percent in 1987 to 27.5 percent in 2001-2005.

The information provided in this study enhances our understanding of the burden of cancer on specific payers and how this burden may change as a result of health reform measures or other changes to health care financing and delivery," Dr. Tangka was quoted as saying.

Source: CANCER, published online May 2010