HCP Assistant Professor Elizabeth B. Lamont, MD, MS, and colleagues the National Cancer Institute studied the costs of care for elderly US cancer patients for the 18 most prevalent cancers and for all other tumor sites combined. The researchers found that the costs of cancer care for elderly Medicare patients are substantial and vary by tumor type, stage at diagnosis, phase of care, and survival. Five-year costs to Medicare were highest for lung, colorectal, and prostate cancers. The researchers estimate that treating elderly cancer patients for five years costs Medicare $21.1 billion, and expect that this figure will increase substantially over the next 10 years with new expensive cancer drugs and as the population ages.

Cost estimates for cancer care are necessary for the development and implementation of national cancer programs and policies. The estimates from this study represent a basis for projections of cancer costs that will be particularly important, as the incidence of cancer and its associated costs are expected to rise with the aging of the US population.

This study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was widely covered in the press, including in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, Science Daily, WebMD, and the NCI Cancer Bulletin, in which Lamont speaks about the research.