Get Cancer, Go Broke.
⏰ 💰 🚑 ICYMI 🚑 💰 ⏰
"Get Cancer, Go Broke." The headline isn't clickbait—it's a national disgrace wrapped in corporate apathy.
Gizmodo.com's piece from last Fall nails what's been festering for decades: America's healthcare system doesn't just let you die; it takes your house, your savings, and your dignity on the way out.
Financial toxicity? That's just a cute, crafted academic and industry jargon for medical bankruptcy, a uniquely American tradition. And it's not just an unfortunate side effect—it's tragic business as usual.
Advocates have railed against this for years. Studies published in JAMA Oncology confirm what every cancer patient knows firsthand: being insured doesn't mean being protected. In fact, the co-pays, deductibles, and "out-of-network" nightmares often hit harder than the disease itself. And let's not even get started on the underinsured—their options boil down to debt or death.
CancerCare's chilling report on the hidden costs of treatment reads like a financial crime thriller: travel, childcare, lost wages, even parking fees.
Oh, and the drugs that might save your life?
Those come with price tags so absurd you'd think they were a dare. Is it any wonder that—in one case from Family Reach—a mom diluted her baby's formula to save money because of her expensive treatment?
Two decades later, at least since I entered the fray, it's still the nonprofit tango of awareness/education campaigns and lobbying against health insurance company malfeasance vs. "does it really matter"?
Health insurers are raking in record profits while families are forced to crowdfund on GoFundMe, the regrettably and unfortunate de facto safety net for millions of Americans and their families.
It's another moral failing and further proof that the Healthcare Industrial Complex has prioritized profit over people to the point where surviving cancer isn't about science or medicine—it's about luck and privilege.
How many more reports, studies, and tear-jerking patient stories do we need before this stops?
Or are we content letting "Get Cancer, Go Broke" remain the tagline for the so-called greatest healthcare system in the world?
End of rant.
https://gizmodo.com/get-cancer-go-broke-patients-often-go-bankrupt-even-with-insurance-2000514382