- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Medical Bills a Major Burden for Cancer Patients, Survey Finds
Although the Affordable Care Act has helped more people gain access to healthcare coverage, including those with pre-existing conditions such as cancer, the survey by the Cancer Support Community found that the cost of care is still too high for many cancer patients.
More than one-third (37.1%) of cancer patients are "seriously or very seriously" concerned about bankruptcy because of medical bills, according to a survey sponsored by the international nonprofit Cancer Support Community. And 47.7% of the 480 respondents reported they had paid more for healthcare during the previous 12 months.
The most common reasons cited for increased expenses were costs related to insurance premiums (61.2%), deductibles (46.7%), and treatment copays (45.8%). More than one-third of respondents reported that they were very concerned about the out-of-pocket costs for hospitalization, medications, lab tests, and scans. About half of the respondents (53.9%) were in treatment at the time of the survey. Of those not receiving treatment, 93.2% were in remission. The majority of respondents in remission reported that they still needed care, including physician follow-up visits (87.4%) and follow up tests (60.9%).
Link to the complete article on Medscape: http://bit.ly/1N4P5A1
Health Care Utilization and Cost of Diagnostic Testing for Respiratory Infections
September 17th 2025Syndromic reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction tests for respiratory infections were associated with lower health care resource utilization and costs, implicating potential for improved value in patient care.
Read More
AI in Health Care: Balancing Governance, Innovation, and Trust
September 2nd 2025In this conversation with Reuben Daniel, associate vice president of artificial intelligence at UPMC Health Plan, we dive into how UPMC Health Plan builds trust with providers and members, discuss challenges of scaling AI effectively, and hear about concrete examples of AI's positive impact.
Listen
Infertility Coverage Boosts ART Use and Pregnancy Success: Richard A. Brook, MS, MBA
August 26th 2025In this episode, Richard A. Brook, MS, MBA, discusses his study showing that infertility treatment coverage increases assisted reproductive technology (ART) use and improves pregnancy outcomes.
Listen
