Cancer care is costly for individuals and in the aggregate. In one study, insured patients with advanced cancer reported median monthly out-of-pocket treatment expenditures of $592.¹ In the aggregate, US expenditures for cancer care were $127 billion in 2013, which was 7% of total health care expenditures.² These costs are projected to be at least $158 billion in 2020.³ Cancer care contributed 6.5% of the growth in health expenditures from 2000 to 2013. Circulatory diseases provide an informative contrast: disability-adjusted life-years have shrunk nearly 20% from 2005 to 2010 while annual expenditures have increased 7%. For cancer, the same figures are 12% and 26%, respectively.²

癌症护理对个人和总体而言都是昂贵的。在一项研究中，投保的晚期癌症患者报告的每月自付费用中位数为 592 美元。¹总体而言，2013 年美国用于癌症治疗的支出为 1270 亿美元，占医疗保健总支出的 7%。²这些费用预计在 2020 年至少达到 1580 亿美元。³从 2000 年到 2013 年，癌症护理占卫生支出增长的 6.5%。循环系统疾病提供了一个信息对比：残疾调整生命年从2005 年至 2010 年，年度支出增长了 7%。对于癌症，相同的数字分别为 12% 和 26%。²