Costs Prevent Cancer Survivors from Getting Medical Care

Published in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study raises the concern that the long-term health and well-being of cancer survivors could suffer because patients have financial worries about their care.
The investigators analyzed information from the annual U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), an in-person, nationwide survey of 30,000 to 40,000 households in the civilian, non-institutionalized population that is used to track trends in illness and disability in the United States. Data from 6,602 adult cancer survivors and 104,364 individuals with no history of cancer, who were surveyed in the 2003 to 2006 NHIS, were included in the study.
"Future research needs to examine the impact of forgoing care on survivors' quality of life and survival," the authors wrote. Weaver added that it was not clear from this study what specific types of medical care were not being received and whether the services were cancer-related. She also noted that it will be interesting to observe how recent health care reform efforts might impact access to care for cancer survivors in the coming years.
The analysis revealed that 18 percent of U.S. cancer survivors, which represents more than two million individuals, did not get one or more needed medical services because of financial concerns.