By Cancer

We all know cancer sucks. We all have people in our lives that have battled cancer. Way too many people will have to enjoy the fun of chemo, radiation, surgeries, clinical trials, non stop tests, and more. The positive is there are so many cancer survivors in the world now. But there are still so many lost to cancer. The death of Chadwick Boseman was a very public reminder that incredible people die from cancer every day. The strength he held during his 4 year battle with colon cancer is incredible. He filmed several movies including the physically demanding Black Panther while fighting cancer. He visited hospitals to meet with kids battling cancer. He took on the world with such love and compassion. And no one knew he was going through hell. 

I have no idea how he did it. I felt like I had a relatively easy cancer battle and it still took me down. I was running a 10 minute mile before chemo started. During my rough rounds of chemo, running wasn’t possible. Walking was the best I could muster up. During my easier rounds of chemo, I finally got to the point where I could run 12-13 minute miles. My body couldn’t handle workouts the same as before. Not to mention the surgeries that limited me from being physically active for so long. The fact that he could work long hours acting, completing stunt work, and doing it with incredible character and a smile is stunning. I thought he was a great guy and a wonderful actor before, now he is my hero. 

I watched the memorial for him on ABC after this death and I will echo what Robin Roberts said. Please do not miss your preventative care check ups. If you feel like something in your body is off, go to the doctor. Don’t wait. Chadwick was too young for routine colonoscopies. I was too young for routine mammograms. Speak up for yourself when something isn’t right. If you are able to get preventative tests, schedule them on time and go. We can not prevent cancer at this time, but we can do everything in our power to catch it as early as possible.

Healthcare

I started this blog during the Democratic National Convention. I didn’t plan on this being my next blog, but I found myself crying during the videos about healthcare. It reminded me of several podcasts and articles I have read about people dying unnecessarily from cancer because they couldn’t afford treatment or they were denied treatment until it was too late. Or people putting off going to the doctor because they don’t want to pay for it or can’t afford it and they are sure it is nothing.

I do not know the solution on how to handle healthcare. I think the Affordable Care Act needs work. I am unsure how the country could make Universal Healthcare work. However, I do know that we all deserve the right and ability to fight disease and live. No one chooses to get cancer, heart disease, MS, PTSD, ALS, and so many other horrible diseases. Even with health insurance, people fighting diseases go bankrupt…how is this possible and why are we letting it happen?

People have a tendency to not talk about money and the cost of medical treatments, but I think we need to talk about it. I had a relatively short 10 month cancer journey with 16 rounds of chemo, three surgeries (port, bilateral mastectomy, and reconstruction), and plenty of tests and blood draws. I sadly discovered my cancer towards the end of 2019, meaning I reached my out of pocket ($3500) two years in a row. My employer is amazing and kicks in $750 a year to my HSA so that helped. My savings (thank God I got a college scholarship) allowed me to cover the rest of the expenses, but $7000 is not a small amount of money and most Americans cannot afford it, especially in such a short amount of time. And my out of pocket was relatively low compared to other insurance coverages.

That said, if I didn’t have health insurance, I would be in massive debt and struggling. My parents would also be draining their retirement savings to help me afford the care I needed to keep me alive.

In 2019 (Oct-Dec), I was charged over $88,000 for treatments, tests, and a surgery. The insurance discount knocks that value down a lot and then I was supposed to stop paying at $3500, my out of pocket cost. All of the tests want you to pay up front and the insurance didn’t have time to catch up on my out of pocket so I paid $1400 over my out of pocket in 2019. My insurance ended up sending me a check to pay me back. I may have been able to push back and ask them to bill insurance first, but honestly, everything was so overwhelming at this point that I didn’t even think about it.

In 2020, I have been billed over $355,000! It lists my responsibility as over $15,000! You might be asking why is that above my out of pocket. Well both of my surgeries required an assistant to help the surgeons. At the pre-op appointment, I had to sign that I would pay $350 or $500 out of pocket if insurance denied payment to help cover the expense of having these assistants in surgery. When I asked why insurance doesn’t cover them, the nurse said they would send the charge to insurance but insurance will likely deny it. The way insurance is run, it wasn’t beneficial for the assistants needed for the surgery to fall under insurance given there are too many hoops to jump through. It isn’t like I could say no to having skilled assistants in my surgery.

So even with good healthcare, in less than a year, I have had to pay around $8000 to beat cancer. I appreciate that my cancer clinic has a financial specialist available to chat, but there is only so much you can do when you don’t have the money…the top option is debt.

If you do a search about financial impact from cancer, the results are scary.

  • Based on data from 2007, 62% of all bankruptcies in the United States resulted from medical debt, and 78% of those filing for bankruptcy because of medical debt had health insurance coverage (Himmelstein, Thorne, Warren, & Woolhandler, 2009).
  • More than 42 percent of the 9.5 million people diagnosed with cancer from 2000 to 2012 drained their life’s assets within two years, according to a study published last year in the American Journal of Medicine.
  • Cancer patients are 2.65 times more likely to file for bankruptcy than those without cancer, and bankruptcy puts them at a higher risk for early death, according to research.

Here are just a few sources I found that spell out the situation better than I ever could:

So why am I writing this? What can we do about it? Honestly, I have no idea, but it is something that people need to be aware of. Being told you have cancer is emotionally and physically draining. You don’t even start to think about the financial impact until the bills start to roll in. There has to be a better way….I just hope we work together as a country to figure it out.

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