The Cost of Cancer - Part I

Ok, so now I’m scared. Not about the disease – about the potential cost.

 In many cases breast cancer is treated with surgery followed by radiation therapy. Triple-negative breast cancer, however, generally calls for a cycle of chemotherapy followed by radiation.

Chemo drugs can be unbelievably expensive. I’ve read that drugs can be $3,000 to $9,000 per injection!  And in some states, insurance does NOT cover cancer drugs that are given in pill form; but covers that same drug if given by injection.

Why does chemotherapy that costs $70,000 in the US cost only $2,500 in India?

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/why-chemotherapy-that-costs-70-000-in-the-us-costs-2-500-in-india/274847/

 Why do chemotherapy drugs cost so much?

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/05/09/cost-of-chemotherapy

From the above article on takepart.com:

“But research is not even the biggest expense. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4 percent of each dollar of sales on promoting the drug, as compared to 13.4 percent spent on research and development, according to a 2008 study in PLOS Medicine by York University researchers who collected data from the pharmaceutical industry and physicians.”

I don’t know about you, but I could certainly do without so many (none would be good) TV ads for Viagra and Cialis.  Given the huge revenues of the drug companies, even moving 1 or 2 percent of every dollar to R&D would make a big difference.

But I really don’t know what to expect.  I guess that’s what scares me. Until the surgery I don’t know what stage it’s in or whether there’s any lymph node involvement. 

Today’s the 20^th.  8 more days to surgery and some answers.