Preview

Cancer And Debt Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
523 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cancer And Debt Essay
Cancer and debts, struggle and inconvenient
There are many diseases that make people get into debts that most of the time cannot be paid. This usually happens because these diseases are with the patients for long periods of time, sometimes until death. Cancer is one of these diseases. As this is a disease that has many times there is a chance that the patient fully recovers or lives under treatment for a long time. Then, if it is already difficult to imagine a person’s fight when this has cancer and is on treatment, debts related to health care do not make things any easier. Picture the struggle that a family must carry with; cancer in a close relative and debts that come with it. Looking up to those who have this debt inconvenient this article
…show more content…
Clinic and doctor visits, for instance, are a big part of these expenses. Patients need to seek medical help or checking every now and then, even when they have recovered from the tumor. This is an inconvenient since there are health insurances that do not have enough coverage and patients need to pay out of their own pockets any treatment they receive in the clinic or those provided by the doctor. Then so, treatment follows as a cost that causes debt. There are three types of treatment, all of them quite expensive: Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. In these treatments is often where the insurances let know the patients that they won’t be able to cover all expenses. Traveling is also an expense that, even though sometimes passes without notice, it can become a source of debt. Why patients would need to travel? You may wonder. Obviously not every town has a cancer treatment center and patients with this sort of condition need to travel and transport to proper facilities where the treatment can be given correctly. Train, car, plane or any other mean of transportation become an expense for patients and relatives that are required to give

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Sutter Case Analysis

    • 2710 Words
    • 11 Pages

    An increasing issue within the health care field is the inability to collect debt from the growing population of uninsured or underinsured patients. Healthcare organizations may be struggling to meet operational margins because the industry has never treated its customers like other retail-oriented sectors of the economy. A McKinsy and Company report states that hospitals incur sixty billion dollars in bad debt annually because they typically collect only ten to twenty percent of a total uninsured patient balance after service. (MacKenzie, 2009) This is due to a number of reasons, including poor accounting practices or a lack of patient information. This paper will discuss how one hospital, California’s Sutter Health, has taken steps to correct this issue. It will analyze the accounting practices put into place by Sutter Health and the success of this practice. This author will also provide an alternate solution to the issue of debt collection for self-pay patients as well as an opinion concerning the actions taken by Sutter Health.…

    • 2710 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Keith goes very in depth when talking about payment issues. He states, “Another conflict may arise when a patient needs very expensive ongoing treatments — such as intensive life-support — but has no hope of recovery” (par. 5). He believes that when families demand expensive treatment for futile patients that they cannot pay for, something needs to be…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    With the current recession, health care organizations have seen in increase in the inability to collect debt from self-pay, uninsured, and underinsured patients. This has caused a struggle on the organization to meet operational margins, and profits. There are a number of reasons for this new increase in patient debts, the more common are, poor accounting practices, lack of patient information and correct patient demographics. Obtaining the correct patient information plays a large part on non collectable debt because patients are not able to be reached. Even though there are uninsured individuals, “more than 80 percent of uninsured people come from working families (Souza, 2007)”. Many of theses people have the means to pay for hospital services but are not requested to pay out the funds. This paper will discuss how one health care organization, California’s Sutter Health, has taken steps to correct this issue. It will analyze the accounting practices put into place by Sutter Health and the financial achievement the facility has created. This author will also discuss a different solution to the issue of debt collection for self-pay patients as well as an opinion concerning the actions taken by Sutter Health.…

    • 2661 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secondly, there are doctors who try to help their uninsured patients. Uninsured patients are people, who are not getting the best treatment when they get sick, and they are in a tremendous financial risk. After seeing this big problem, doctors have ideal different methods to help their uninsured patients. Some doctors take cases over the phone to save the billing office visits, others provide care for lower price or sometimes for free. Kipling says that “Increasingly in California and other states, doctors such as Ramos are taking matters into their own hands, finding ways to continue care for patients who have no insurance and no money.” I understand that for Dr. Ramos and other physician must be hard to continue to care for the uninsured people.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Case Study

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One concern is the patient’s lack of knowledge about his health problems. Another concern is whether he can continue to live the way he has without assistance. Henry will not be able to care for his wife the way he needs to with his own health issues. Also his wife can no longer provide for Henry’s needs she used to fulfill, such as cooking for him. Henry’s comment about how he hopes his insurance will pay for his oxygen and inhalers raises concern for me. These health disparities may keep Henry from receiving proper care due to him not being able to afford proper health care. Also he still continues to smoke even with his illness. His breathing problems concern me too.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The health care industry is a multi-million dollar industry. Health insurance, providers, technology management, and inpatient and outpatient procedures are among the many terms that we hear nowadays within this industry. The principal phrase that seems to be ringing in the ears of the government and policymakers are debt and cost-control. There are fundamental concepts that should be understood throughout the health care industry as it relates to finance. On one hand, many individuals have a general knowledge concerning health care organizations from the standpoint of insurance, copays, and deductibles. These constructs are more familiar to a person that has any health care needs due to the routine of having to provide some form of payment…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The cost for a patient receiving care has been on a steady incline, nearing “$2.6 trillion in 2010, over ten times the $256 billion spent in 1980,” (Kaiser Foundation, 2013, para. 1). Contributing…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    uncollectible accounts

    • 668 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The number of reimbursed hospital care continues to grow along with the need to report uncompensated care and to separate difference between bad debit and charity care. The difficulty and confusion is whether or not these practices are in line and are they consistent with the amount of charity care and bad debt that health care organizations have and is it being classified in the right way. Certain treatment that is considered urgent and with some federal regulations, require that there be a "provision of service without consideration" and it looks the person’s ability to pay especially those with complex medical needs.…

    • 668 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As well as health care costs can be extremely expensive. Messerli says “It is not unheard of for medical costs to equal $50,000 to $100,000 to keep some patients alive” (2). Most people would like to leave some…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Healthcare is one of the top economic and social problems facing not only United States but also many other countries in the world. While there are many issues that modern health care needs to deal with the most common problem are health insurance costs. The rising costs of health insurance together with the rising costs of medical care are impacting many families. Inability to pay bills for medical treatment affects now not only uninsured but also people who pay for medical coverage.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Palliative Care

    • 4121 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Penson, J. and R.A. Fisher. 2002. Palliative care for people with cancer. 3rd ed. London: Arnold Publishers.…

    • 4121 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Managed Care

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Bodenhiemier T, Berry –Millett R. (October 15 2009). Follow the Money-Controlling Expenditures by Improving Care for patient needing. Vol 361, 1521-1523…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Health Care Utilization

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages

    John Q.’s situation is unfortunately common in the United States today. Many Americans cannot afford health insurance. Many of those who cannot afford health insurance choose to receive medical attention, not pay the medical bills, and ignore the collection’s calls and attempts to collect the medical debt or they do not receive health care. Others are self-pay and pay for their health care as needed and out-of-pocket. Some, like John Q., decide to use Medicaid to obtain health care. Medicaid allows those who normally would go without yearly doctor visits, hospitalizations, and medications to utilize the health care services they need. There are many factors that prevent John from utilizing the health care available to him through Medicare.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Right to Die

    • 2085 Words
    • 9 Pages

    People with terminal illnesses have unbearable pain and suffering. Large medical bills are accumulated when terminally ill patients go in-and-out of the hospital to try and ease their suffering. Thus, increasing economic affliction for the surviving family.…

    • 2085 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Cancer Awareness

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are a lot of tough diseases in the world but the most common one is cancer. It's a disease that attacks the body cells dangerously by spreading inside the body destroying the immune system. It's also known as a malignant tumor that stops the the cell growth and invade the whole body. It's a serious disease that considered as the main reason of death for humans. However many people had survived it. It can be cured if it was discovered earlier. Lately research has proved that there are some people who survived it. It’s a fatal disease that everyone must be aware of it.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays