I am not from the US. Had my close relative fight with cancer. If not for the government which sponsored it almost fully, excluding a couple of procedures like PET, it would cost our family a lot. Just for the scale: pial for one infusion of one out of three drugs would cost us $8k and my relative would’ve needed 16 infusions.
are you asking how we treat, or what do we pay?
many people with cancer in the u.s. go the cheapest routes for treatment because some are incredibly expensive. hospitals are only required to ‘stabilize’. they are not mandated to cure. poorer people have worse outcomes as they cant afford the best treatments.
Both actually.
So even the stabilization requires paying the bill? Isn’t it like an emergency medicine where doing nothing just kills?
yes, there is no free healthcare.
those with the lowest incomes qualify for government assistance in the form of medicare/medicaid but this is fairly minimal and specifically excludes most novel treatments. our republicans/conservatives continually find ways to reduce this funding. they are truly awful human beings despite being the ‘pro life’, ‘pro god’ block of our electorate.
the united states sucks donkey balls for poor people considering its wealthy status otherwise. all that money is at the top, and its getting worse.