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Colton Coey

Professor Rebecca Morean

English 1201

24 October 2021

Affects of paying for healthcare on cancer patients survival rate

“Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States” (Centers for Disease

Control). With so many loved ones being taken away from families, one would think that cancer

patients receive proper medical care. However, in the United States where citizens must pay for

healthcare, this is not the case. This is coming from first-hand experience of a family member not

being able to afford Chemo. Primitive U.S laws are the deciding factor of whether someone will

choose to go to a screening or choose to pay rent. The people who passed the bill for healthcare

would have expected something to change by now but the U.S is stuck in its old ways. The rest

of the world has adopted universal healthcare but when will the U.S? Paying for

healthcare causes cancer patients to refuse and delay treatment because of the cost, leading to a

lower survival rate

Figure 1 a study by the Centers for Disease Control shows the rate of new cases in the top 10

most common cancers by the thousand (Centers for Disease Control).

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Healthcare costs are unreasonably high and rising. Getting prescriptions filled and just

having cancer increases the cost of healthcare. According to BlueCross, BlueShield, “Growth in

U.S Prescription Drug Spending… The High Cost of Treating Chronic Diseases… How We Live

Affects Healthcare Costs” (BlueCross, BlueShield). An uninsured patient will be paying for each

oral treatment and be paying more because they are a higher risk for insurance companies. If the

patients have mental health issues and find out they have cancer, the burden of the high cost in

addition to the problems they might already have such as depression may cause many patients to

make adverse decisions when it comes to medical care. Not only might they avoid care but if

patients choose to go to the hospital then they will be paying for the additional days they are in
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the hospital. According to an article by Lin Bai, “Cancer patients with depression would accrue

higher direct medical costs and medication costs, and pay more out-of-pocket for healthcare than

those without depression” (Bai et al.). Patients must pay based on the level of risk the insurance

company decides on. This includes if the patient has a complex cancer that would be hard to treat

making them an “end of life” patient. According to an article by Brett Doble, “Healthcare costs

for patients with cancer are most expensive immediately after diagnosis and close to death”

(Doble et al. 35). Patients with complex cancers will be labeled as high risk or “close to death”

by companies and will have to pay more, which may make them deny care.

Cancer patients, (will be referred to as just patients) are more likely to avoid screenings

the more expensive the procedure is. The likely hood of patients skipping out on screenings

exponentially increases as the cost increases by the hundreds. According to an article by Crissy

Flake, “the rate of those delaying or deferred necessary medical care in the United States rose

from 1 in 7 to 1 in 5” (Flake & Robert). Screenings are not just important to see if someone has

cancer, but they are even more important to see if someone whose already been diagnosed has

recurring cancer. This is important because about double the number of patients diagnosed are

asymptomatic over symptomatic. According to an article by Pelin Teke Kisa, “Of the 63 patients

with recurrence, 23 were symptomatic and 40 were asymptomatic” (Emir & Kisa). About two

times the number of patients did not show symptoms or any signs of the cancer coming back.

The urgency of screenings becomes transparent in increasing the survival rate of patients.

However, many patients in the U.S can not afford the cost of multiple screenings per

month. According to an article by Crissy Flake, “The economic burden of healthcare results in

about 50% of people reporting they or a family member has delayed care” (Flake & Robert).

That is half of people who reported saying that they or someone they know has not went to a
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screening or check-up. Once they have enough money to take the trip it might be too late. Even

if it is not too late, the further the cancer progresses the more the patient must pay resulting in

even more doubt and poor decisions. The actions people are forced to take because they can not

afford healthcare results in more deaths than there should be. Even with insurance the out of

pocket (OOP) costs can be enough to forgo treatment. These costs include prescriptions and

lifestyle changes. According to an article by Toral Parikh, “Even with health insurance, many

patients experience high out of pocket costs and experience practical financial consequences

from medication expenditures” (Parikh et al.). Health insurance may not cover everything

especially if you have a chronic disease such as cancer. This can make patients skip out on

medication even if they go the doctor.

When patients delay treatment or do not fill a prescription, they are increasing the

chance for death at worst and at best causing adverse medical outcomes. The high cost of

healthcare may cause patients to not fill a prescription and without oral medication other

treatment may not be enough. According to an article by Toral Parikh, “and overall health care

was twice as high as the percent of responds without CRPD who gave poor ratings” (Parikh et

al.). CRPD is cost-related prescription delay and patients who reported this were twice as likely

to rate their healthcare poorly. Patients rating their healthcare poorly would make them likely to

delay treatment and increase the death rate of cancer patients.

Some people might argue that paying for healthcare creates shorter waiting lists for

transplants and that it is better for the economy. It is true that taxes would rise however the safety

of every human being is much more important than money morally. According to a viewpoint

essay by D.W. MacKenzie, “Economist Larry Kotlikoff estimates that average rates of taxation

would have to rise 56 percent to cover projected increases in federal expenditures” (MacKenzie).
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Taxes would rise due to free healthcare. This is not necessarily a bad thing considering human

life is what is on the other end. The impact of high healthcare costs negatively affects patients so

much that they would rather delay treatment and risk dying. Considering the following any

logical person would choose a human life over keeping people with money from paying taxes.

Paying for healthcare does not equal shorter waiting lists either. There are some people who pay

to get higher on the waiting list. Waiting lists should be fair and go in order which is made much

more likely to happen when everyone gets the same coverage for healthcare.

Cancer patients have a lower survival rate if they must pay high prices for healthcare. If

healthcare was free people would not have to worry about high prices and everyone would get

the healthcare they deserve. No more losing someone dear and feeling like they were robbed of

the care they deserve. With the implementation of Universal healthcare anyone can get the care

they need.
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Works Cited

Bai, Lin, et al. “Differences of Healthcare Utilization and Cost between Cancer Inpatients with

and without Depression: Based on National Health Insurance Database.” Psycho-

Oncology, vol. 30, no. 6, 2021, pp. 979–981., https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.5660.

Doble, Brett, et al. “End-of-Life Cost Trajectories and the Trade-off between Treatment Costs

and Life-Extension: Findings from the Cost and Medical Care of Patients with Advanced

Serious Illness (Compass) Cohort Study.” Palliative Medicine, vol. 35, no. 5, 2021, pp.

893–903., https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216321999576.

Flake, Crissy, and Robert Clegg. “Impact of Cost in Delay/Deferral of Care: A Systematic

Literature Review.” Journal of Applied Business and Economics, vol. 22, no. 6, 2020,

https://doi.org/10.33423/jabe.v22i6.3077.

“Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Diseases.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 June 2021,

www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm.

“Why Does Healthcare Cost so Much?” Blue Cross Blue Shield, www.bcbs.com/issues-

indepth/why-does-healthcare-cost-so-much.

Emir, Suna. “Role of Surveillance Screening in Detecting Tumor Recurrences after Treatment of

Childhood Cancers.” Türk Pediatri Arşivi, 2020, doi:10.14744/turkpediatriars.2020.38243.

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Works Cited

MacKenzie, D.W. "Public Health Insurance Programs Are Immoral and Unaffordable." Medical

Ethics, edited by Noël Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010053290/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=6398db65. Accessed 1 Nov. 2021. Originally

published as "Tragedy of the Healthcare Commons," Freeman, 10 Feb. 2014.

Parikh, Toral J., et al. “Cost-Related Delay in Filling Prescriptions and Health Care Ratings

among Medicare Advantage Recipients.” Medicine, vol. 98, no. 31, 2019,

doi:10.1097/md.0000000000016469.

*from Purdue Online Writing Lab