Cancer patients in the U.S. paid nearly $4 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2014 and the disease cost the country $87.8 billion in cancer-related health care spending, a report by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network found.
Those of us who have devoted our careers to treating recalcitrant cancers know the heartbreak of walking alongside an individual facing an advanced diagnosis. We not only shoulder the clinical responsibility, but also the emotional weight that accompanies every step of that journey as each patient’s story becomes connected to our own.
