Characteristics of patients at risk for financial burden because of cancer and its treatment

A study of 185 cancer patients who completed questionnaires about (1) medical costs not covered by insurance, (2) out-of-pocket expenses, and (3) lost wages over a six-month period as a result of having cancer revealed the following. First, the risk of spending a large percentage of one’s income because of the disease rose sharply when patients were under 65 years of age, had incomes below $20, 000, and spent more than two days in the hospital during the six-month period. These cutoff points proved to be effective screening criteria: 20 percent of patients who met all three criteria spent more than half their incomes on cancer and its treatment, and 12 percent who met two or more of them spent more than half their incomes. Of those patients who did not meet any criterion, none spent more than 10 percent of his or her income for these purposes.