Cancer increases bankruptcy risk, even if you have insurance

A new study by the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research in Seattle has found that even though the may have insurance, those suffering from cancer may face bankruptcy .

According to the lead researcher, Scott Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D.

Bankruptcy may represent a unique and heretofore unstudied potential source of health disparity. In this study, we formed a novel partnership with the Federal Bankruptcy Court and the National Cancer Institute’s SEER cancer registry to link bankruptcy records for cancer patients and a matched control population without cancer. Our findings indicate that that cancer patients experience excess rates of bankruptcy compared to persons without cancer, results that have potentially important implications for those researching the causes of cancer disparity, and for policymakers seeking to mitigate the economic as well as clinical burden of persons with cancer.

The researchers found that out of 197,840 people with cancer, 4,408 of those diagnosed between 1995 and 2009 filed for bankruptcy, compared to 2,291 of those without cancer.

Read more at nbcnews.com