Canadians with cancer spend an average $33K out of pocket for medical care: report
Canadians with cancer spend an average $33K out of pocket for medical care: report
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TL;DR: if you're an adult and live within transit distance of a hospital in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, or Montreal, the costs are probably manageable. For anyone else though, it's not.
Honestly, this sounds low.
My niece was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma at 8 years old. She lives in Peachland, roughly an hour from Kelowna, and about 5 hours from Vancouver. Her parents both work, and one had to either give up work altogether so my niece could be accompanied to Vancouver for weeks and months, while the other worked the few days they could in the Okanagan then drive down to the cost to be with their daughter while she was on chemo.
The costs were brutal. Transport was a big one, and since they both ran their own business, both companies cratered. They stayed at Ronald McDonald House for much of their time in Vancouver (thankfully) but they couldn't stay the whole time and had to pay Vancouver rents for the remainder of her treatment.
They have two kids, so the other needed regular care. This was handled by her retired grandmother, who moved to Vancouver and took a job so she could help out.
My niece survived and is now turning 12. She's just been diagnosed again though, so they're all back on the treadmill. Thankfully this time it was found a lot earlier, so the prognosis is a lot better. She may only need to be in Vancouver for a short time this time.
Honestly, this sounds low.
As you alluded to, I think it's the fact that there are a lot of cases where patients have low-costs that bring down the average significantly. The CMAs you mentioned are ~47% of the Canadian population and there are a LOT of other cities that also do cancer treatment. I also get the impression that we've gotten much better at diagnosing and treating cancer, so for every complicated, high-cost patient, there are probably dozens of cases that have pretty straight forward treatment.
I really would love to see the distribution of cases.
Leiomyosarcoma that invaded and collapsed my spinal column here. It was significantly more than what they estimate in my case. All told it was around $76,000 extra on our budget and me not working ever again means ten years later we still struggle. We will never have savings or get out of debt in our lifetimes.
Peachland
Princeton, Bench or beach? Just curious. We were there in 86 but left due to costs just before the riot.
Sorry, I don't understand the reference. They live in Peachland, a rather unimpressive little town full of pickup trucks just West of Kelowna.
Know it well, but it only had the one traffic light in my time.
You should see it in the summer, when the land as far as you can see would be filled with the herds of the mighty Winnebago, a special type of herd that would actually share a single braincell.
We were up from the beach, but saying any more would 'out me. As you say, it can seem unimpressive.