Health Care Reform and the High Cost of Cancer
Cancernetwork.com reported that the central message from the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 2009 annual conference was that oncology will be singled out in the health reform debate for its high cost. The report notes that, in 2007, the U.S. spent $2.2 trillion (that’s with a “T”) on health care. Of that, cancer represents 5% of all health care costs, or $110 billion (with a “B”).
As we hear unending newscasts about the stimulus spending and health care reform costs, trillions and billions seem to become meaningless and beyond our comprehension. Once in a great while, someone puts the numbers into perspective. Here is once such perspective, courtesy of Cancer Network. If we equate a dollar to a second, a trillion seconds takes us back to 30,000 BC, well before civilian as we know it or possibly even mankind as we know it. Therefore, 2.2 trillion seconds from today would take us to 66,000 BC! That’s how much money we spend on health in the U.S. in ONE YEAR! Furthermore, the cancer costs of $110 billion viewed at one dollar per second would take us back to 3300 BC which precedes the biblical account of Noah. No wonder most doctors, especially oncologists, medical centers, and the pharmaceutical industry are very nervous about the payment concept of the health care reform bill.
The medical community and the pharmaceutical industry are being strong-armed by the government offices promoting the plan and are urged to reduce costs of medical care. Supposedly, executives from both arenas are working diligently to come up with billions in cost savings for the patients and insurance companies.
For the rest of the week, this blog will focus on the high costs of treating cancer combined with the health care reform vision of reducing those costs. Can it happen. A better question is can it happen without loss of services and survivability potential? An even better question is will the stakeholders let it happen? Keep coming back this week. Let’s dialog.