In the midst of trying to avoid dying from cancer, and being fortunate enough to have health insurance, I wasn’t thinking about the cost of treatment. I couldn’t get past the thought of having cancer, the incoming test results and what my treatment options were.
But even with excellent insurance, there were a lot of expenses. Every doctor’s visit dinged us, as did every infusion. Surgeries (biopsy, lumpectomy, port placement) came with co-pays, some in the hundreds. A trip to the emergency room for an infected fingernail (thank you, chemo) was a few hundred.
Did I need this treatment? Yes! Do I regret spending this money? No! I received excellent care from my oncology team in addition to some amazing freebies that were offered by the cancer center, not the least of which was truly exceptional counseling. As someone with degrees in psychology, I feel that therapeutic psychological support during cancer treatment is an absolute necessity, and I was blessed to have an amazing Clinical Counselor. Additionally, the Nurse Navigator assigned to me had also been a breast cancer patient and was able to offer insight and support that I wouldn’t have been able to get from just anyone.
But once I got through the initial shock of my diagnosis, I had to start asking, “Is this covered by my insurance?” While some treatment was non-negotiable (surgery, chemo, radiation) there were things that I didn’t get (lymphedema compression sleeve) because a costs–benefits analysis suggested I could get by without them, and other things (genetic testing, 3-D mammogram) that I sprang for because they were well worth the peace of mind.
What saved us as a family was that there was an out-of-pocket maximum that limited how much financial damage we incurred. I consider myself unbelievably lucky because of that, particularly with two kids only a handful of years away from applying to college. Our savings did take a hit as the expenses piled up, but it was much, much smaller than it could have been.
I dodged that pricey bullet, but there are so many others who do not. The financial impact of cancer is not discussed enough. When I started researching the actual cost of all my treatment — not the fairytale insured version that I was so fortunate to pay — I was absolutely dumbfounded. The price tag topped $100k for my chemo alone! Going through treatment without insurance would have devastated us. Survivors go bankrupt over this.
Medical bills aside, there are costs to be incurred simply from lost work due to treatment and survivors may find themselves unable to work once treatment is over. Chemo brain has caused a great deal of stress for me as I face transitioning from part-time to full-time employment (a necessity due to the ridiculously high cost of living here). I am slowly learning to adjust to my lapses in concentration so that chemo brain does not pose a liability to the quality of my work. Mindfulness and meditation play a huge role in addressing these issues, as does moving towards a career that makes more use of my strengths and experiences, rather than simply looking for advancement in my current position.
I didn’t anticipate any of this when I found out I had cancer. I was so anxious about the diagnosis that the quality of my insurance didn’t even register. We thought we were ready to do “whatever it takes”. I mean, can you put a price on a life? And yet, can you plunge your family into debt with a clear conscience? These are painfully difficult questions with no good answers. It is unbelievably fortuitous that my husband had switched us to a more expensive insurance several years earlier, and heartbreaking to know that many others never had that option.
Frantic Shanti 