Today I researched on the internet the cost of the maintenance drug
that I take to help extend the length of my remission. Although I could not
find 2017 prices or the price at which the pharmaceutical company had sold the
drug to the government in prior years, I did find lots of prices for the drug
sold to individuals or non-federal healthcare providers in prior years. A reasonable
estimate is that my monthly maintenance dose costs approximately $15,000.
When that cost is combined with other treatment and healthcare that I have
received because of having cancer, in the eight months since being diagnosed
with cancer my care has cost more than $200,000. Ongoing care in years while I remain
in remission plus additional costs related to forcing the cancer into remission
a second and perhaps third time could easily drive the total cost of treating
my cancer to well over one million dollars.
Few Americans can afford to pay one million dollars to treat a
catastrophic illness.
On the other hand, few Americans would opt to refuse treatment to a
person who suffers from the type of cancer that I have who cannot pay for
treatment when the person can reasonably expect to enjoy several or more years of
healthy, productive life.
The best way forward in dealing with the cost of catastrophic illness
is for the US to implement single payer, universal healthcare. The single payer
would be the federal government. Universal access means that everyone would
have access.
Half of all persons employed in the healthcare industry, which is 20%
of the US Gross Domestic Product, are not healthcare providers but
administrative, etc. A quarter of healthcare costs is attributable to billing
and associated costs. Eliminating private payers would shutter the immensely
profitable private health insurance corporations, but would concurrently generate
tremendous savings in healthcare related costs for the entire nation.
Two examples of a single payer system – with the federal government as
that single payer – already exist in the US, though both systems limit access. The
first is Medicare, available to everyone over 65 and the lowest cost provider
of healthcare. The second is the military healthcare system, available to
active duty and retired military personnel and their families.
Congress should replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with a
single payer system that provides universal access.
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