The crippling financial toxicity of cancer in the United States

The financial cost of cancer treatment in the United States is astronomically high and is expected to rise. The economic burden of cancer care increasingly falls on the patients. Patients thus experience “financial toxicity” of cancer care that can have catastrophic consequences on health and quality of life. Here we examine the results reported by Gilligan et al. in their study of financial toxicity in US cancer patients over 50 years old. This study provided corroborating and compelling data about the financial toxicity experienced by cancer patients. Many questions remain, however, about the consequences of financial toxicity and the full reality of cancer care economics in America.