Dear President,

The amount of money paid by cancer patients on chemotherapy alone is out of this world. Chemotherapy, being the most important part to fighting cancer in most situations is also the most expensive part of cancer treatment. We have people with cancer having to go home and watch themselves whither away, knowing they will not be able to pay for the drug needed to slow down or kill the cancer cells. Even if you can pay for the treatment, you can be left with a gaping hole of debt that you can only try to crawl out of. I myself, care about this subject because I have had second hand experience witnessing the effects of medical bills on my family. My mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2013, and did in fact not use chemotherapy for a period of time. When she was faced with the opposition of paying for chemo or dying at a faster rate; she resorted to paying for it. Although I didn’t know in my adolescence how much the amount accumulated to as a whole from her sickness, I know now how much of an impact it had on my family.

The national cancer institute had shown that chemotherapy alone can cost up to $108,000 for brain cancer for women and $115,000 for men in only the first year of treatment. Something less severe may only be around $5000 to $5400 which is only the cost of the drugs and not the treatment. Treatment for cancer can range from $500-$65000 a month. Although insurance may cover a portion of it, it can’t cover the whole thing, and can sometimes reach 20% coverage.

Our past President, Mr. Barack Obama had attempted to “fix” the cost of health care alone; known as “Obama Care”: it has raised the prices of health care. The cost of premiums for insurance are skyrocketing. Middle class families are struggling to pay it, which also puts a boost on the whole insurance. Affordable health care, isn't so affordable, as you know. Sadly enough, if you are older you can not receive the benefits of treatment as much as younger patients. There is a list of age and conditions, so even if you want to be treated, you can not if there is someone younger than you with the same thing. I can only hope you fix the problem, and or get rid of the system and maybe make or create something new to actually benefit the middle class and lower class.

So again, President, I understand and can only pray that you know what’s going on in the world, and you most likely know more than I do. But watching people not be able to pay for their children, themselves, and or their parents with chemotherapy, or whatever they need to be able to see their life grow is a sad thing. Health care right now isn’t affordable and definitely isn’t as “appealing” as it was made out to be. But the debt for cancer patients and patients with health problems are through the roof, and we need a solution for all of those who have health care needs.

Thank you,

Jacob 

Works Cited:

"Cancer Prevalence and Cost of Care Projections." Annual Costs of Cancer Care. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

Facebook.com/obamacarefacts. "ObamaCare: Pros and Cons of ObamaCare." Obamacare Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

NerdWallet. "How Much Does Chemotherapy Cost? - NerdWallet." NerdWallet. N.p., 09 Sept. 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.