The cost of treating cancer in the U.S. has nearly doubled over the past two decades, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published online May 10 in Cancer. The good news is that treatment appears to be working, as there has been a 1.8% annual decline in cancer deaths starting in 2002.
In 1987, cancer treatment costs were $24.7 billion, based on statistics reported in the 1987 National Medical Care Expenditure Survey, adjusted to 2007 dollars. After analyzing data from the 2001 through 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Florence Tangka, Ph.D., a CDC health economist, and colleagues determined that the total medical cost of cancer increased to $48.1 billion due to new cases of cancer.
In 1987, an estimated 128 million cases were reported, and during 2001 through 2005, this increased to an estimated 278 million. The researchers attributed the increase, in part, to new cases of cancer diagnosed among an aging population, as well as to an increase in the prevalence of cancer.
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However, in real terms, Medicare costs increased by 488%, private insurance payments increased by 137%, and Medicare costs increased by 99%.
The authors also identified the trend that cancer treatment is increasingly being provided in outpatient settings. The share of cancer costs from inpatient admissions fell from 64.4% of total cancer costs in 1987 to 27.5%, representing a drop in inpatient expenditures from $15.9 billion to $13.2 billion over this time period.
The costs of radiation therapy were not broken out in the study.
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Medicare cancer imaging grows at twice rate of overall expenses, April 27, 2010
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