Health insurance in its way to combat financial crisis in breast cancer treatment
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https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2019.v31i03.016Keywords:
Breast Cancer, Health Insurance, Economic Burden, Insurance Schemes, Vajpayee ArogyashreeDimensions Badge
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Copyright (c) 2019 Indian Journal of Community Health

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women, along with its diagnosis it brings disarray and economic burden on family. Its treatment is costliest compared to any other cancers. Health policies and health insurances are introduced to bridge the gap between patients and quality cancer care. We aim to understand the level to which health insurance help the breast cancer patients in reducing economic burden due to cancer Methodology: Cross sectional study done in Justice K.S Hegde Hospital in month June, 2018 to August, 2018 with participants being patients with breast cancer. Patients were contacted over the phone and a questionnaire was introduced to those willing to talk on their economic expenditure. Results: 73% of people had insurance to treat breast cancer of which 52% had advantage of Vajpayee Arogya Shree. 24% of people had insurance paid fully for treatment and 34% received partially, it reduced their burden by 51-75%. 46% of people had the cost >1 lakh for treatment which could be burden for 27% who didn’t have insurance, and this was among patients from neighboring state for treatment. Conclusions: Insurance reducing the burden is ensured; but choice of hospital for treatment is not with the patient, which is a burden.Abstract
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Malvia S, Bagadi SA, Dubey US, Saxena S. Epidemiology of breast cancer in Indian women. Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology [Internet]. 2017 Aug 1 [cited 2018 Aug 18];13(4):289–95. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ajco.12661 Allaire BT, Ekwueme DU, Guy GP Jr, Li C, Tangka FK, Trivers KF, Sabatino SA, Rodriguez JL, Trogdon JG. Medical Care Costs of Breast Cancer in Privately Insured Women Aged 18-44 Years. Am J Prev Med. 2016 Feb;50(2):270-7. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2015.08.035. PubMed PMID: 26775906; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5836737.[PubMed]. Elias F, Khuri FR, Adib SM, Karam R, Harb H, Awar M, Zalloua P, Ammar W. Financial Burden of Cancer Drug Treatment in Lebanon. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2016;17(7):3173-7. PubMed PMID: 27509947.[PubMed]. Figueiredo FWDS, Almeida TCDC, Cardial DT, Maciel ÉDS, Fonseca FLA, Adami F. The role of health policy in the burden of breast cancer in Brazil. BMC Womens Health. 2017 Nov 28;17(1):121. doi: 10.1186/s12905-017-0477-9. PubMed PMID: 29179715; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5704361. [PubMed] Giordano SH, Niu J, Chavez-MacGregor M, Zhao H, Zorzi D, Shih YT, Smith BD, Shen C. Estimating regimen-specific costs of chemotherapy for breast cancer: Observational cohort study. Cancer. 2016 Nov 15;122(22):3447-3455. doi: 10.1002/cncr.30274. Epub 2016 Oct 10. PubMed PMID: 27723214; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5479741.[PubMed] Early cancer diagnosis saves lives, cuts treatment costs [Internet]. [cited 2019 May 29]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/03-02-2017-early-cancer-diagnosis-saves-lives-cuts-treatment-costs Sood N, Wagner Z. Impact of health insurance for tertiary care on postoperative outcomes and seeking care for symptoms: quasi-experimental evidence from Karnataka, India. BMJ Open. 2016 Jan 6;6(1):e010512. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010512. PubMed PMID: 26739744; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4716202.[PubMed] Bhojani U, Thriveni B, Devadasan R, Munegowda C, Devadasan N, Kolsteren P, Criel B. Out-of-pocket healthcare payments on chronic conditions impoverish urban poor in Bangalore, India. BMC Public Health. 2012 Nov 16;12:990. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-990. PubMed PMID: 23158475; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3533578.[PubMed] Guy GP, Yabroff KR, Ekwueme DU, Virgo KS, Han X, Banegas MP, et al. Healthcare Expenditure Burden Among Non-elderly Cancer Survivors, 2008-2012. Am J Prev Med. 2015 Dec;49(6 Suppl 5):S489-497. Ali PI, Wani W, Saleem K, Correspondence. Cancer Scenario in India with Future Perspectives. Cancer Therapy. 2011 Nov 1;8:56–70.
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