The Journal of the National Cancer Institute just published a study estimating the cost of cancer for the patient in the first year of treatment alone.
Their methodology included adding up the hours spent sitting in doctors' waiting rooms, interviewing with doctors and researchers, waiting your turn for M.R.I.s, CT scans, attending chemotherapy sessions, radiotherapy sessions and other treatments. They estimate the collective cost of Cancer to individuals is around US$2.3 billion, that's over $3,000 per person.
They did not consider a second person coming along for support and care; based on our expenses, this study is a serious underestimate of cancer's financial cost to the family.
This estimate is only time spent in the health system; getting tests, operations etc. It doesn't count the days spent home in bed recovering from surgery or regaining strength from chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimens.
Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society summed it up poignantly "Cancer is more than the just the dollars and cents for the medicines and the treatments and the doctors. It's also the lost opportunities for the patients."
There's also day care for kids, transportation, parking, outrageously expensive prescriptions, and other unexpected expenses. The there's the way cancer puts careers on hold but more on that later.
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