Why spend so much money on cancer treatment?
Xiao Ming’s classmates, because their father’s cancer, made the family have no source of income. For the sake of treatment, they also sold their family products. The students also worked part-time, only to raise huge medical expenses. Xiao Ming thought, is the cost of treating cancer so exaggerated? Where are these expenses spent?
According to the statistics of the Department of Health, in terms of the age-standardized incidence rate, about 302 people per 100,000 people are cancerous, and the cancer clock is fast-changing to one person every 5 minutes. (Note 1). The person who suffers from cancer may be you, or your family or partner.
Taiwan's top ten cancers (Note 1)
In 2016, the total number of people with cancer in the country was 105,832. The following are the top ten cancers in the total number of cancers in the year, ranked by the number of cancers:
1. Colorectal cancer (about 14.53%)
2. Lung cancer (about 12.74%)
3. Breast cancer (about 11.97%)
4. Liver cancer (about 10.46%)
5. Oral cancer (about 7.37%)
6. Prostate cancer (about 5.06%)
7. Thyroid cancer (about 3.48%)
8. Gastric cancer (about 3.46%)
9. Skin cancer (about 3.43%)
10. Esophageal cancer (about 2.47%)
◎ Cancer treatment
1. When cancer is treated, there is usually only one way, depending on the patient's condition, with several treatments, such as targeted drugs combined with chemotherapy (Note 4), or chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy (Note 5). At present, the most common ways to treat cancer are the following four types (Note 6)
Surgical resection
The tumor tissue and the part where the cancer cells may spread are removed together (Note 7). For example, breast cancer patients can be breast-conserved after evaluation (Note 8); patients with early colorectal cancer can also be treated with this method (Note 9).
2. Radiation therapy
It uses a penetrating beam of light to illuminate the tumor and treat it. These beams, called radiation (Note 10), are irradiated by radiation to atrophy or even destroy the tumor (Note 11), depending on the location of the cancer. You may choose to use different radiation to achieve better results. For example, brain cancer can be treated with a knife (Note 12), but using radiotherapy will also affect some normal cells and may cause illness. Suffering from fatigue, general weakness, poor appetite, skin color changes at the irradiated site (Note 10), etc. However, the newly introduced proton radiotherapy equipment can reduce the phenomenon of reaching normal cells, and a course of treatment costs about 300,000 to 600,000. Yuan varies (Note 13).
3. Chemotherapy
Use chemical drugs or injections to treat cancer, block cancer cell division and reproduction (Note 14), and achieve the purpose of treatment, but on the contrary, it may affect the physiological function of normal cells, making it impossible to operate. Causes side effects such as hair loss, mouth or throat ulcers, nausea and vomiting, etc.
4. Target drug treatment
It is generally more effective for treating cancer cells, cutting off the message transmission pathway of cancer cell proliferation, causing it to shrink, inhibiting tumor metastasis, etc., and has a small burden on the patient (Note 15). Although health insurance has paid for targeted drugs, it is often subject to conditions, for example, some will only pay a certain number of weeks, or second-line treatment can be paid, etc. Therefore, patients with cancer are not eligible for health insurance. Standard, but still use the target drug for treatment at its own expense.
◎ Cancer treatment costs
Depending on the type of cancer, the stage of treatment, and the cost of treatment, the time course and cost of treatment are different. The following is the case with colorectal cancer, which has the largest number of cancers, and introduces possible treatment costs:
Surgical resection
At present, surgery for resecting colorectal cancer malignant tumors, traditional open surgery and minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, if you intend to take a new type of single-hole laparoscopic surgery, you must pay about 30,000 to 50,000 yuan at your own expense (Note 16).
2. Radiation therapy
In general, colorectal cancer is not sensitive to radiation, but for cases where tumors cannot be completely removed or have local metastases, appropriate radiation therapy is given to inhibit local recurrence (Note 17). If radiation therapy is used, one of the treatments is through therapeutic techniques such as Rapid Arc and IGRT image guidance (Note 18). At present, health care covers many radiation treatments, but the cost of radiation treatment varies from cancer to instrument.
3. Chemotherapy
It is often divided into two methods, oral and injection. The cost may reach about 100,000 to 200,000 yuan (Note 19), but it should be noted that the use of injection chemotherapy, in addition to the cost of drugs, may also be hospitalized, with other drugs, etc. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and patients can choose the treatment that suits them (Note 19).
4. Target drug treatment
The commonly used target drugs for colorectal cancer are "Avastin" (Note 20) and "Erbitux" (Note 21), which are classified as conditional health benefits (Note 22). However, if it does not meet the health insurance payment conditions, it will cost 10 to 150,000 yuan per month (Note 23).
5. Inpatient ward
Many health care wards are hard to find, so it is often necessary to make up the difference. The ward double room is about 1,500~3,000 yuan a day; the single room is 3,000~5,000 yuan (Note 24). Depending on the treatment, there will be different length of hospital stay, such as traditional injection chemotherapy, may require hospitalization for three days (Note 25); surgery may take 5 to 15 days (Note 26).
Xiao Ming’s classmates, because their father’s cancer, made the family have no source of income. For the sake of treatment, they also sold their family products. The students also worked part-time, only to raise huge medical expenses. Xiao Ming thought, is the cost of treating cancer so exaggerated? Where are these expenses spent?
According to the statistics of the Department of Health, in terms of the age-standardized incidence rate, about 302 people per 100,000 people are cancerous, and the cancer clock is fast-changing to one person every 5 minutes. (Note 1). The person who suffers from cancer may be you, or your family or partner.
Taiwan's top ten cancers (Note 1)
In 2016, the total number of people with cancer in the country was 105,832. The following are the top ten cancers in the total number of cancers in the year, ranked by the number of cancers:
1. Colorectal cancer (about 14.53%)
2. Lung cancer (about 12.74%)
3. Breast cancer (about 11.97%)
4. Liver cancer (about 10.46%)
5. Oral cancer (about 7.37%)
6. Prostate cancer (about 5.06%)
7. Thyroid cancer (about 3.48%)
8. Gastric cancer (about 3.46%)
9. Skin cancer (about 3.43%)
10. Esophageal cancer (about 2.47%)
◎ Cancer treatment
1. When cancer is treated, there is usually only one way, depending on the patient's condition, with several treatments, such as targeted drugs combined with chemotherapy (Note 4), or chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy (Note 5). At present, the most common ways to treat cancer are the following four types (Note 6)
Surgical resection
The tumor tissue and the part where the cancer cells may spread are removed together (Note 7). For example, breast cancer patients can be breast-conserved after evaluation (Note 8); patients with early colorectal cancer can also be treated with this method (Note 9).
2. Radiation therapy
It uses a penetrating beam of light to illuminate the tumor and treat it. These beams, called radiation (Note 10), are irradiated by radiation to atrophy or even destroy the tumor (Note 11), depending on the location of the cancer. You may choose to use different radiation to achieve better results. For example, brain cancer can be treated with a knife (Note 12), but using radiotherapy will also affect some normal cells and may cause illness. Suffering from fatigue, general weakness, poor appetite, skin color changes at the irradiated site (Note 10), etc. However, the newly introduced proton radiotherapy equipment can reduce the phenomenon of reaching normal cells, and a course of treatment costs about 300,000 to 600,000. Yuan varies (Note 13).
3. Chemotherapy
Use chemical drugs or injections to treat cancer, block cancer cell division and reproduction (Note 14), and achieve the purpose of treatment, but on the contrary, it may affect the physiological function of normal cells, making it impossible to operate. Causes side effects such as hair loss, mouth or throat ulcers, nausea and vomiting, etc.
4. Target drug treatment
It is generally more effective for treating cancer cells, cutting off the message transmission pathway of cancer cell proliferation, causing it to shrink, inhibiting tumor metastasis, etc., and has a small burden on the patient (Note 15). Although health insurance has paid for targeted drugs, it is often subject to conditions, for example, some will only pay a certain number of weeks, or second-line treatment can be paid, etc. Therefore, patients with cancer are not eligible for health insurance. Standard, but still use the target drug for treatment at its own expense.
◎ Cancer treatment costs
Depending on the type of cancer, the stage of treatment, and the cost of treatment, the time course and cost of treatment are different. The following is the case with colorectal cancer, which has the largest number of cancers, and introduces possible treatment costs:
Surgical resection
At present, surgery for resecting colorectal cancer malignant tumors, traditional open surgery and minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, if you intend to take a new type of single-hole laparoscopic surgery, you must pay about 30,000 to 50,000 yuan at your own expense (Note 16).
2. Radiation therapy
In general, colorectal cancer is not sensitive to radiation, but for cases where tumors cannot be completely removed or have local metastases, appropriate radiation therapy is given to inhibit local recurrence (Note 17). If radiation therapy is used, one of the treatments is through therapeutic techniques such as Rapid Arc and IGRT image guidance (Note 18). At present, health care covers many radiation treatments, but the cost of radiation treatment varies from cancer to instrument.
3. Chemotherapy
It is often divided into two methods, oral and injection. The cost may reach about 100,000 to 200,000 yuan (Note 19), but it should be noted that the use of injection chemotherapy, in addition to the cost of drugs, may also be hospitalized, with other drugs, etc. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and patients can choose the treatment that suits them (Note 19).
4. Target drug treatment
The commonly used target drugs for colorectal cancer are "Avastin" (Note 20) and "Erbitux" (Note 21), which are classified as conditional health benefits (Note 22). However, if it does not meet the health insurance payment conditions, it will cost 10 to 150,000 yuan per month (Note 23).
5. Inpatient ward
Many health care wards are hard to find, so it is often necessary to make up the difference. The ward double room is about 1,500~3,000 yuan a day; the single room is 3,000~5,000 yuan (Note 24). Depending on the treatment, there will be different length of hospital stay, such as traditional injection chemotherapy, may require hospitalization for three days (Note 25); surgery may take 5 to 15 days (Note 26).
Why spend so much money on cancer treatment?
Reviewed by Health Tips
on
July 07, 2019
Rating:
Reviewed by Health Tips
on
July 07, 2019
Rating:
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