The high costs of this dreaded disease are well known and are hard to escape, given the prevalence of the disease in the population. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the American Cancer Society. It is also the second-leading cause of death in the overall First World, trailing only those who succumb from heart disease.
Since 1900, it’s estimated that there have been 5 million cancer deaths. That’s more than tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria combined.
Globally, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reports there were 14.1 million new cancer cases in 2012, not counting skin cancers, which aren’t tracked. By 2030, that total is expected to reach more than 21 million new cases, thanks to the current population aging and overall population growth. That number may even grow, as Third World countries adopt some of the bad habits previously only displayed in wealthy economies, including bad diets, lack of physical activity, and smoking.
Clearly, it’s a huge battle, and the tools to wage war against it include radiation, surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immune therapy. None of them are inexpensive.
THE HIGH COST OF CANCER
The biggest complaints about high cancer costs are about cancer drugs, which are notoriously expensive. In fact, they are so expensive that some cancer treatment centers refuse to provide certain high-cost drugs to patients.