Comments on: roughtly how much does it cost do chemo for cancer if you don’t have insurance?

By: PooPooLaTrash

PooPooLaTrash — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The only way to get an accurate figure is to call the hospital or treatment facility and ask. There are different chemo protocols for different cancers and their stages. Depending on which drugs are used, how long the therapy is needed, at how many intervals and whether or not any adjunct therapy (such as radiation) is needed, there can be a wide variation in prices. I do know that it is not inexpensive.

If you don’t have insurance, the Cancer Society in your country of residence or the hospital’s social services department can help you with offsetting some of the cost, or signing you up for programs that may pay all or part of the costs of the drugs and hospital related costs, depending on your income.

By: BSherman

BSherman — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Treatment cost ranges are enormous based on the location, stage, and other aspects of the disease. It also depends on which city you are treated in, as costs skyrocket within urban areas such as New York.

You need to consider the costs for diagnostic testing, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and possibly years of follow-up treatments such as monoclonal antibody and hormonal therapies. Costs could range anywhere from $50,000 to $1,000,000 in the United States.

Many Americans who lack health insurance travel overseas for identical treatment at substantially lower cost. Singapore, China, and India are major destinations with excellent medical facilities.

Contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 for detailed information about diagnosis, treatment, insurance, and support. You may qualify for state programs such as Medicaid. Best wishes for a good outcome.

By: PJ

PJ — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

My brother in laws chemo for colon cancer cost $80,000.00 the Radiation was another $100,000.00. Hospitals will reduce that if you can prove you don’t have any morey, but you are still stuck with at least 50% of the bill.

By: april

april — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

My personal chemo is 15 pills for the month. I paid 25 copay. The bag said, your insurance saved you 2,685.00. It would be that much every month.

By: QT_Pie

QT_Pie — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

It varies depending on the type of cancer, course of treatment the doctor recommends, and how your respond to treatment. But to give you an idea…

We have a 4 year old with Leukemia. It’s been 7 weeks since he was diagnosed and the total cost so far is over $20,000. He will likely be continuing chemo therapy for the next 3 to 5 years depending on how he continues to respond. Do the math.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Our cancer costs have been about $300,000 so far and the bills are still being added to this total. I know that if you pay cash at the hospital for treatments they will reduce the bill by 30%.

If it were me, I would call every agency that deals with cancer and tell them my story and see if they could help. I would make that my full time job.

Of course chemotherapy is different for different cancers. Ours was breast cancer stage 2b triple negative. We had a total of 27 treatments.

Not only is it the chemotherapy but then you have all the other parts of the treatment that entails being treated with these drugs.

1. The blood test or draw to determine if your blood counts are high enough to allow for treatment.

2. The office visit to the oncologist

3. The chemotherapy drugs themselves

And also we had to get a daily injection of Nupogen to increase the white blood cell counts to get ready for the chemotherapy drug. Cost of this for six injections I almost fainted because at first they said it was not covered by insurance was $12,000. a week, and I needed it for 27 weeks of treatments.

I finally got it for $200 monthly deductibles.

Try and find help, do whatever you need to do to get your cancer treatments paid for. From local television exposure to writing every cancer ward in your area and then national cancer centers, find some help. Even friends or family members could have a charity event for your costs.