When does the cost of care become toxic?

Can the cost of health care be bad for you? In the January/February issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal, Drs. Caroline Sloan and S. Yousuf Zafar at Duke University examine the “financial toxicity” of cancer care in an article titled, “Ask Early and Ask Often: How Discussing Costs Could Save Your Patient’s Life.”

The authors write that out-of-pocket costs, which have increased particularly in cancer care, can have a toxic effect on patients and their families. Although the Affordable Care Act has created out-of-pocket maximums ($6,850 for an individual in 2016), Sloan and Zafar write “even this amount, which is roughly equivalent to 22% of the median annual personal income in the United States, can be harmful.”

In addition to out-of-pocket costs for care, patients face other financial losses like decreased savings and more time off of work.

Read more in the North Carolina Medical Journal.