The adage prevention is better than cure isn’t just true in a health sense, according to new research. A study published by the University of the Sunshine Coast quantifies the financial cost of caring for cancer survivors – and it isn’t cheap.
In its paper, Cancer Survivors’ Long-Term Health Service Costs in Queensland, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the researchers found that the average health service cost per cancer survivor per year was $15,890.
The results emerged from an analysis of more than 230,000 people between 2013 and 2016. They had been diagnosed with a first primary malignancy from 1997 onwards.
The research was led by Dr Katharina Merollini, a health economics academic from UniSC and the Sunshine Coast Health Institute.
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Releasing the report, Dr Merollini said: “Breaking this down by types of malignancies, the highest annual health service costs per person were for the bone marrow disease myeloma ($46,000), brain cancer ($30,300) and liver cancer ($29,600).”
The figures, she said, “counted all medical and allied health services, hospitalisations, emergency admissions and prescribed pharmaceuticals in that period, both related and unrelated to cancer”.
However, in terms of overall cost to the community, she said: “According to the data, the highest costs were incurred by patients with a history of prostate ($538 million), breast ($496 million) or colorectal ($476 million) cancers.”
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Unsurprisingly, costs were typically highest in the first year after diagnosis and decreased over time.
Study co-author Professor Joanne Aitken said the results highlighted the potential savings to be made via preventative measures. Prof. Aitken said: “Given the enormous cost of cancer to the health system and knowing that one-third of cancers are preventable, a strong and clear message from this research is the importance of more investment in cancer prevention.”
Dr Merollini says the study opens the door for policy changes, with a greater focus on prevention.
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“[The study] reveals a huge impact to health services,” she said. “We hope the results will inform planning by policy makers in Australia, provide data for economic evaluations and reinforce the benefits of investing in cancer prevention.”
The cumulative average annual healthcare expenditure on all cancer survivors in Queensland between 2013 and 2016 was $3.66 billion, she said.
The findings support previous research published by Cancer Council NSW, which revealed that the cost of cancer to the Australian health system was over $6 billion a year. A separate finding made by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that expenditure on cancer in 2015–16 was $10.1 billion.
With the costs almost certainly higher in 2022, it points to prevention being far better than cure in every sense.
Do you have regular health checks in an effort to prevent serious diseases such as cancer? Will this research change your attitude to cancer prevention? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
Not sure where the costs are. I had primary colon cancer in 2002 followed by secondaries in the liver and lung, 2005. Paid a fair amount of gap for the ops, the 12 months in total chemo was paid separately. Since then, occasional CT Scans and colonoscopy every 2/3years paid for by private health fund and $2500 per year x 20 years covers them.