Under the new health care law, millions of Americans will benefit from more accessible and affordable health care – but the key will be getting individuals actually enrolled.

Enroll America is a new nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure that all Americans are enrolled in and retain health coverage. It will work at the state and federal levels to push for streamlined enrollment procedures and will also raise awareness of enrollment options among the uninsured.

If you are uninsured, learn about your options at the Enroll America website.

The U.S. sticker price for cancer care by 2020 will likely increase at least 27% over the next decade, to a minimum $158 billion yearly by 2020, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Colorectal cancer ranks 2^nd behind breast cancer in 2010 total costs of care by cancer type, and will remain one of the top 5 most costly cancers in 2020.

Projections of the Cost of Cancer Care in the United States: 2010–2020

Those are just two of many facts in an important paper published in the Jan. 19 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The predicted costs are much higher than previous estimates because the authors used the most current cost data (2006 Medicare) which, for the first time, includes costs of expensive targeted treatments.

The study is powerful because it analyzed different scenarios and assumptions, and broke down costs of three stages of care (initial and final years, and middle years of continuing care) for each type of cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

With the increasing expense of treating colorectal cancer, treatment cost savings in the near future will more than double when screening prevents colon and rectal cancers or finds them early.

Looking at expense for an entire population, all screening methods except colonoscopy cost less than treating those cancers that developed, and the net cost of colonoscopy screening fell from over $1,300 to less than $300 per individual in the population. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s reports include information about mismatch repair genes in stage IV colorectal cancer, colon surgery complications for very obese patients, and the impact of computerization on hospital outcomes.

In addition, there are links to the Surgeon General’s new Family Health Portrait and a report from Families USA on health care insurance costs for laid off workers. Read the rest of this entry »

Update from the 2009 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium

Over half a billion dollars could potentially be saved if all patients with colorectal cancer that had spread were tested for the KRAS gene before beginning treatment.

Because patients with mutated KRAS in their tumors don’t benefit from treatment with EGFR inhibitors Erbitux® (cetuximab) and Vectibix™ (panitumumab), offering them those drugs is a futile expense.  In addition, trying the drugs delays potentially effective treatment and exposes patients to skin rash and other unnecessary side effects. Read the rest of this entry »