Costs of Cancer

The financial costs of cancer are great both for the individual and for society as a whole. The National Cancer Institute estimates overall costs for cancer at $104 billion; $35 billion for direct medical costs, $12 billion for morbidity costs (cost of lost productivity), and $57 billion for mortality costs. Over half of the direct medical costs are due to treatment of breast ($6 billion), lung ($5 billion), and prostate ($5 billion) cancers. The cost of cancer screenings, including mammograms, Pap smears, and colorectal exams adds another $3 to $4 billion to overall cancer costs, but reduces suffering and saves lives if cancer is detected at an earlier, treatable stage.

The debate on health care system reform highlights these figures in a new way. An estimated $1 trillion will be spent on health care this year in the United States, yet 41 million Americans do not have any health insurance. The number of uninsured, moreover, does not take into account the tens of millions of Americans now living with disease or disability who daily encounter problems with our health care system, including 8 million Americans who have had cancer.

The American Cancer Society's Statement of Principles on Health Care System Reform calls for:

• high quality cancer care for all Americans;

• expanded support for basic and clinical cancer research;

• comprehensive school health education as a key cost-saving primary prevention strategy; and,

• an increase of at least $2.00 in the federal cigarette excise tax and a comparable increase for other tobacco products to prevent death and disease from smoking.

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