Sky-high healthcare prices are putting cancer patients’ lives at stake
(Washington, DC) -- Soaring healthcare costs and industry practices contributing to them are increasingly making cancer treatment out of reach for many U.S. patients, cautions a new report from Blood Cancer United (formerly The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society).
The report, “High Prices, Higher Stakes: Policy Solutions to Tackle Rising Healthcare Costs,” outlines a set of federal and state policy recommendations aimed at curtailing industry practices like consolidation and anti-competitive behaviors that drive up prices and increase individual and systemic healthcare costs. These costs are then passed on to cancer patients and other consumers through higher premiums, deductibles, and co-insurance.
“The physical toll of cancer is hard enough for patients to bear, but now the financial burden has become nearly as threatening to their lives as their diagnoses,” said Brian Connell, vice president of federal affairs at Blood Cancer United. “We urge policymakers to adopt these recommendations, which would not only help reduce costs for patients so they can get the care they need but also produce much-needed savings across the entire healthcare system.”
By 2030, the annual cost of cancer care in the U.S. is projected to exceed $245 billion—nearly double the cost in 2010. The rising cost of care is a tremendous problem for blood cancer patients, 42% of whom exhaust their entire life savings within two years of diagnosis. To cope, many patients are forced to delay or forgo necessary treatments.
To help lower healthcare provider prices and alleviate the financial burden on patients, Blood Cancer United recommends that policymakers:
- Improve and enhance merger and acquisition oversight to address the fact that as health system consolidation accelerates, mergers and acquisitions often go unnoticed by regulators until they are completed.
- Ban anti-competitive contracting terms in healthcare settings, such as non-compete clauses that prevent an employee of a particular provider from accepting a job with a competing provider or establishing a new practice nearby for a certain period. These practices exacerbate price hikes associated with consolidation.
- Implement site-neutral reforms and address facility fees that result in patients paying more for a service performed at a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) than when it is performed in a physician’s office.
- Enhance system-wide transparency using tools like “All Payer Claims Databases” that can help policymakers, regulators, researchers, and advocates better understand the healthcare system’s performance and how it serves the needs of patients and consumers.
The full report is available here.
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About Blood Cancer United®
Blood Cancer United® (formerly The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) is the largest global nonprofit focused on blood cancer patient support, research, and advocacy. The organization’s mission is to cure blood cancer and improve the quality of life of all patients and their families. To achieve it, Blood Cancer United brings together a community of people—patients and their families, volunteers, healthcare providers, scientists, staff, partners, fundraisers, and philanthropists—who believe all blood cancer patients deserve longer, fuller lives. For support and to learn more, visit www.BloodCancerUnited.org.