The financial stages of cancer in the elderly

Beyond the loneliness and fear that cancer can bring, the worry of paying medical expenses weighs heavily on the elderly patient's mind. This review describes how Medicaid, Medicare, self-insurance, and other similar programs pay for the treatment of cancer in the elderly and points out some of the current problems with these programs. In addition, the cost of cancer over the course of the disease is broken down and analyzed in sections, including the healthy (prediagnostic) stage, the acute (active) treatment stage, the chronic (rehabilitative) stage, and the terminal stage. Both the services provided during each stage and the relevant costs to the elderly patient are described. The limitations arising from incomplete medical coverage for cancer patients also is detailed.