Many Insured Patients Alter Their Lifestyles and Medical Care to Cope With Cancer Treatment Costs
A small nationwide survey finds many insured patients are changing their lifestyle and medical care in the face of treatment-related financial burdens. In fact, more than one-third adopted medical care–altering strategies, with younger and lower-income patients being more likely to alter their care. Lifestyle changes were even more common, with almost 9 out of 10 patients making at least one change. This is one of the first studies to explore sociodemographic factors associated with different cancer treatment cost coping strategies. The findings were presented at a presscast in advance of the 2014 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium (Abstract 161).
Prior research has suggested that about 13% of patients suffer from high out-of-pocket financial burden after they are diagnosed with cancer and, according to the American Cancer Society, as many as 20% of Americans with cancer spend their life savings to pay for their care.
“We need a better, more open dialog between patients and providers about the financial burden associated with cancer care costs,” said lead study author Ryan Nipp, MD, an oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “We found that people use a range of different cost-coping strategies, and we need to engage with patients on their choices and develop screening tools to identify patients who are likely to make potentially harmful decisions about their treatment.”
Study Details
Researchers surveyed 174 patients (83% white, 96% female, with a median age of 67) undergoing treatment for cancer (85% breast, 4% colorectal, 11% other solid tumors). All patients were insured and had requested financial assistance through a national copay assistance program.
Overall, 89% of survey participants used at least one lifestyle-altering strategy and 39% used at least one medical care–altering strategy. The most common medical care-altering coping strategies were not filling a prescription (28%) and taking less medication than prescribed (23%). Lifestyle-altering coping strategies included spending less on leisure activities (78%), spending less on basics like food and clothing (57%), borrowing money (54%), and spending savings (50%).
Younger age, higher education, and shorter time on chemotherapy were all associated with greater likelihood of adopting lifestyle coping strategies compared to older age, lower education, and longer time on chemotherapy. Younger patients were also more likely to use care-altering strategies compared to older patients; and lower-income patients used more care-altering strategies than higher-income patients.
This research was supported by HealthWell Foundation. For full disclosures of the study authors, view the study abstract at abstract.asco.org.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
