As expected, costs for treating cancer hardly go down. On the contrary, new equipment, medicine, and co-pays for patients merely rise. Despite the high frequency of cancer incidents, only one in five patients is taking their treatment. Both insured and uninsured individuals struggle to pay for the prescribed medication as insurers frequently deny coverage of costly treatment. Clearly, under the current conditions patients with cancer can never be sure in what their combat will result. Even if the treatment is successful, poverty will strike for sure.
The aim of the healthcare reform is to make cancer treatment more affordable to those who vitally need it. Nearly one in eight people with quickly progressing cancer refuse the recommended treatment because of its cost. Not only patients but also cancer clinics do not benefit from the rising prices. Doctors cut down the number of clinics, because not so many patients are ready to pay large sums of money. Poverty also strains scientific research mainly because new treatments are even more expensive and cannot be sold for a fair price.
Precision medicine has been recently recognized as a more cost efficient and integral treatment of cancer. Oncologists have started to address cancer with more complex and smart drugs, just like the ones used during antiretroviral therapy. Precision medicine is adjusted to the needs of every individual, including their genetic, phenotypic, and physiological characteristics. Thus, patients with the same type of cancer and similar clinical symptoms will receive more targeted treatment. Precision medicine requires oncologists to work harder on their patients, nevertheless, it is expected to be more affordable.