Health Reform and Cancer (and...)

In last Friday's Wall Street Journal, a cancer patient wrote an impassioned entreaty to American health reformers. Her message: the system ain't broke so don't fix it. She places particular emphasis on the importance of innovation. The writer thinks that more government involvement will stifle development of novel therapies. While her letter confirms that cancer patients have it good under the current healthcare system, I'm not persuaded that the American health care system ain't broke.

Here's why I think the cancer patient's argument fails: Healthcare in America might work for cancer patients, but most American patients don't have cancer.

American patients with cancer - even those covered by the government - receive superlative treatment. They see the most tenacious specialists, undergo the most advanced imaging techniques, and receive the newest cancer drugs.

Unfortunately this is not the case for all American patients. Cancer remains a rare disease. Most patients in the U.S. visit the doctor to receive care for some chronic disease. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and lung disease are examples. Like cancer, these diseases often require complex treatments and frequent attention from healthcare providers yet only a small number of the total with these diseases receive the same type of care as cancer patients. This is partly because so many Americans lack insurance. The number of patients suffering from chronic diseases is increasing while the number of people able to pay for treatment is decreasing.

This disparity between cancer and chronic disease treatments is one reason why healthcare reform is necessary in America. A large amount of resources are spent on a relatively small population of patients while a large population of patients suffers. As a result, my view of the need for change in healthcare differs from the author of the WSJ opinion article. Like her I hope cancer care in the U.S. remains innovative, yet unlike the writer I hope President Obama achieves healthcare reform.



Contact Sam: samjmhealth@gmail.com

Picture credit: Getty Images via WSJ