the cost of cancer: report reveals canadian patients spend an average of $33,000
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for many, $33,000 could represent years of savings for important goals like buying a home or paying off a mortgage, funding an education or saving for retirement.
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an alarming report issued by the canadian cancer society has found that a cancer diagnosis threatens far more than someone’s health – it comes at an increasingly high financial cost for patients and their families to pay out of pocket, and for the already overstretched healthcare system.
the average patient spends about $33,000 in their lifetime in canada, where we have universal healthcare, according to the report. consider the number of people affected given the statistics: two out of every five people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. and cancer is the leading cause of death claiming one in every four people. many cancers strike at random, so anyone could be at risk.
“we often think about the negative health consequence of cancer and how it dramatically affects our lives and people around us. but it also affects the economics of our lives, which is something we don’t always think about,” says dr. darren brenner, co-lead of the report and epidemiologist who works with cancer data to understand who is affected, how are certain people affected differently and why, along with how to alleviate the burden on individuals and society. he is also an associate professor in oncology and community health sciences at the university of calgary.
“and really this report highlights that it’s a lot more considerable than people are aware of in terms of the impact both at the health system level, but for the individual patient and their family,” he says, adding, “what surprised me is just the sheer size of the economic impact, so the estimates we have in the report suggest that the cost of cancer has risen dramatically over the past few years and decades, and the size of the increase just this year. the cost to the healthcare system has risen to over $30 billion in 2024.”
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the report, billed as the first of its kind, was developed by the canadian cancer statistics advisory committee in collaboration with the canadian cancer society, statistics canada and the public health agency of canada with analysis conducted by the canadian partnership against cancer. the collaboration used a microsimulation tool called oncosim, pioneered by the canadian partnership against cancer, for the best estimates of the economic impact of cancer based on available data from national surveillance.
as the report outlines, cancer patients and their caregivers carry a hefty 20 per cent of canada’s total cancer costs that total $7.5 billion in 2024. this is a financial burden for people who are already facing a life-threatening illness that many patients say changes their lives forever. they have to adjust to a “new normal” and carry on. financial stress can be a continuing burden.
health systems costs account for about 80 per cent of societal costs for cancer, with lung, breast, colorectal and prostate cancer, combined, expected to account for 47 per cent of health systems costs at $14.2 billion in 2024.
the research team factored in rising cost of living and increasing numbers of people facing cancer diagnosis because of the growing and aging population, which led to a significant cost leap projected over the next decade to $8.8 billion per year.
out-of-pocket costs include items like ongoing prescription drugs, homecare, assistive devices, family care, travel-related expenses and accommodations.
“it’s a huge expense to be able to shoulder and this is something that we’re passionate about at canadian cancer society because we hear about it every day from people who are being directly impacted all the time. so this is an important public and political conversation to have. but it’s also an important issue to elevate on behalf of patients,” says kelly wilson cull, director of advocacy at the canadian cancer society.
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while everyone’s journey is going to look different from a cost perspective, she cites an example of how it would look for a mother of a younger family living in rural newfoundland. if she has breast cancer, she is going to have to pay a considerable amount of money to travel to and from st. john’s, where she’d need to go to receive some, if not all, of her cancer treatment. so that would involve travel and accommodation. you might have childcare costs and you might need a breast prostheses or a wig.
“oftentimes, cancer patients who are receiving treatment are required to take a leave of absence from work or might lose their employment altogether. so you’re dealing with a lost income that can also impact your benefits,” she explains, adding drug costs can be more significant than people expect and not everyone is affected equally.
“some people are not aware that in atlantic canada and in ontario, there’s no universal coverage for oral chemotherapy or what we would call take-home cancer medication” that is universally covered in western canada and british columbia in much the same way that receiving iv medication is covered. in ontario and atlantic canada, patients try to go through private insurance or access public programs. “you’re probably paying out of pocket for some of that cost.”
oral chemotherapies are a huge growing part of oncology treatment as precision medicine better targets specific gene mutations.
wilson cull also points out the damage of cancer treatment to fertility and how young people who want to have a family need to access fertility services and fertility support. these procedures are now available for children as well, which is a benefit for the just over 10,000 children, youth and young adults who are diagnosed with cancer in canada every year. out-of-pocket costs for these are steep, including travel and support costs, she says. “we really want to see provincial governments step up to the plate so that those cancer patients can access no barrier fertility preservation services.”
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her team intersects with supporting patients and the work to advocate governments for policy measures that address the financial hardship, like job protection, drug coverage and travel.
“the big policy change we need is medical travel. that’s certainly what we hear about most often. we need provinces to be developing comprehensive programs that keep pace with the cost of living and inflation so that people can travel to and from their treatments and afford accommodation.”
doing its part, the canadian cancer society offers a number of supports to ease the financial burden of cancer care, including rides to treatment, accommodation, travel-related financial assistance and free wigs or prosthetics.
the report highlights that the first year after a cancer diagnosis is the costliest for patients – which can be daunting. costs for patients and their caregivers for the first year of care are projected to total $5.2 billion in 2024, which is just under half of the costs borne by health systems for this phase of care.
also, some people are opting out or delaying aspects of their treatment because of financial constraints. people who can’t work as much and caregivers who need to take time off are significant hurdles when these steps risk the loss of income and critical health coverage. the message here is that financial constraints contribute to worse health outcomes.
according to recent data from mnp ltd., more than 50 per cent of canadians have less than $200 left at the end of the month after paying their bills. for many, $33,000 could represent years of savings for important goals like buying a home or paying off a mortgage, funding an education or saving for retirement.
“the challenging part about the financial piece is there’s no panacea,” says wilson cull. “there’s no one solution for this complex issue. so through this report, we’re presenting governments of all levels some policy options to help ease some of the financial burden it would. it would be great if there was just one easy, quick solution, but this is really going to take all levels of government, organizations like ours, health sector partners. it really takes a society to be able to shift this.”
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she’s encouraging canadians to join the canadian cancer society in calling on governments to provide more support to reduce the cost of cancer by signing a petition at cancer.ca/costofcancer.
as brenner emphasizes, most importantly, the report is a call for action to reduce financial hardship for cancer patients and ramp up cancer prevention efforts. “everything we can do to try to prevent cancer and screen for it so we can catch it earlier helps because it alleviates a lot of the treatments that are involved with later stage diagnosis. we know that we’re not meeting our recommended percentages of people being screened.”
he advises people to talk with primary care providers and health professionals about steps to reduce your risk, including recommended screening.
“we could do a lot better in terms of more people being screened and staying up to date on cervical, colorectal and breast cancer screening.”
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