Cancer Costs Double in Less than 20 Years

Cancer Costs Double in Less than 20 Years


By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: May 10, 2010
Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Over a period of nearly two decades, the medical costs of cancer care almost doubled in constant dollars, but remained proportional to other medical costs, researchers said.
Over the same time -- from 1987 to 2005 -- cancer costs shifted away from inpatient care, according to Florence Tangka, PhD, of the CDC, and colleagues.
Meanwhile, the share of cancer costs picked up by private insurers and Medicaid increased while private, out-of-pocket expenditures declined slightly, they reported online in Cancer.
Much of the increase in cancer care costs has been driven by a growing caseload -- fueled in turn by an aging population, rather than a rise in per-case costs -- Tangka and colleagues said./.../