Cancer care cost the American public $104.1 billion in 2006 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – according to NCI’s newly released Cancer Trends Progress Report-2009/2010 Update. The financial burden of cancer looms even larger, however, when you consider other costs, such as losses in time and economic productivity. In 2005, for example, lost economic productivity due to premature death from cancer was estimated to be $134.8 billion. Experts suggest that the financial burden of cancer will only get larger as the U.S. population ages and grows, cancer survival improves, and cancer treatments become more expensive.
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