Cancer patients are seeing higher bills after clinics are bought out

Tim Day was determined to bring a positive attitude to his treatment after a scary stage 4 cancer diagnosis in 2019. But he learned soon enough he'd need to bring a lot of money, too.

Aggressive prostate cancer, already metastasized, meant surgery, chemo and other wildly expensive hormone therapy drugs, one that billed out to his insurance at $14,500 a month. Monthly bills he paid just for the hormone therapy drugs amounted to a hefty car payment. Day lost track of his out-of-pocket expenses when they reached around $26,000 within the first two years ― not at all unusual in a state like Iowa with surging cancer diagnoses, a growing survivor population, rising insurance premiums and health-care prices.

Seven years later, the 67-year-old Iowa resident feels immense relief and gratitude knowing he's in remission. Prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, tests for the cancer marker that once read off the charts now come back undetectable.

But after the University of Iowa Health Care’s system purchased the Des Moines metro's largest independent oncology practice, Mission Cancer + Blood, the price for the life-saving injections Day needs to keep the cancer at bay rose fivefold.

That's made him consider all the patients in Iowa…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/money/