High US Cancer Care Prices Don’t Reduce Patient Mortality

The US spends double on cancer care than other high-income nations but sees only modest improvements in mortality, according to a new study published in JAMA Health Forum. Researchers at Yale University looked at the cancer spending rates of 22 high-income nations. Ryan Chow, an MD/PhD graduate student and lead author of the paper, noted that the average cost per person for cancer care is approximately $600 vs. the average of $300 in the other 21 countries in the study.

According to Yale University, “The researchers found that national cancer care spending showed no relationship to population-level cancer mortality rates. ‘In other words, countries that spend more on cancer care do not necessarily have better cancer outcomes,’ said Chow. In fact, six countries — Australia, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Korea, and Switzerland — had both lower cancer mortality and lower spending than the United States.”

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(Source: Eureka Alert, May 27^th, 2022)