Cancer survivors skipping medical care – Paging Dr. Gupta - CNN.com Blogs

Cancer survivors skipping medical care – Paging Dr. Gupta - CNN.com Blogs
Imagine one of your parents coming down with a cancer that can be treated and perhaps put into remission. Now imagine that your mother, father or your husband decides to skip those vital treatments because they are too expensive. That is what approximately 2 million Americans decide to do every year according to the this study published in the medical journal Cancer. Here is an excerpt:


Even though it puts their long-term health and well-being at risk, "two million U.S. cancer survivors did not get one or more medical services because of financial concerns," says study author Dr. Kathryn Weaver of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. In general, she says, cancer survivors under the age of 65 were almost twice as likely to delay or forgo all types of care, compared with adults with no cancer history in the same age group.


Hispanic cancer survivors were most likely to skip treatment according to the study. Hispanic and African American cancer survivors were more likely than whites to leave prescriptions unfilled or to forgo needed dental care.


"It reflects differences in insurance coverage in our country," Weaver says. "The people over 65 are often covered by Medicare and have more consistent insurance coverage." But she says even people under 65 who had insurance coverage, would sometimes fail to seek treatment when they needed it.