Abstract IA46: Medical financial hardship in the United States

Abstract

Abstract The prevalence of cancer survivorship is increasing in the United States, reflecting an aging and growing population as well as earlier detection of cancer and improved treatments, resulting in longer survival following diagnosis. The costs associated with cancer survivorship are also expected to increase, based only on these population changes. Recent trends towards increasing costs of cancer treatment are further straining budgets for health care payers, and corresponding trends towards greater patient cost-sharing, with higher deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance rates, are straining budgets for cancer patients and their families. As a result, concerns about the costs of cancer care and medical financial hardship, including problems paying medical bills, financial distress, and delaying or forgoing medical care due to costs, are increasingly common. This presentation will discuss risk factors for medical financial hardship in cancer survivors, including patient sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., poverty, minority race/ethnicity, rural residence), lack of health insurance coverage, and aspects of health insurance benefit design among the insured. It will also identify research gaps at the patient and family, provider and care team, health care system, employer, and state and national policy levels. Citation Format: K. Robin Yabroff. Medical financial hardship in the United States [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr IA46.