Without prescription coverage, some cancer patients do without even low-cost drugs

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uoca-wpc111815.php

Public Release: 18-Nov-2015
Without prescription coverage, some cancer patients do without even low-cost drugs
University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows that for breast cancer survivors without prescription coverage, even relatively low-cost medicines can be 'catastrophic'
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment shows that breast cancer patients whose health insurance plans included prescription drug benefits were 10 percent more likely to start important hormonal therapy than patients who did not have prescription drug coverage. Women with household income below $40,000 were less than half as likely as women with annual household income greater than $70,000 to continue hormonal therapy. Hormonal therapy for patients with estrogen- or progesterone-positive breast cancers can reduce the risk of cancer recurrence by as much as 50 percent.

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"We have good evidence that when people feel that a drug is too expensive, they stop taking it," Bradley says. "This study suggests that reluctance to insure prescription drugs may result in increased recurrence and poor survival among women with breast cancer, one of the largest groups of cancer survivors."