Cancer Cost Trends in the US

Data show cancer costs doubled over last two decades.
USA Today (5/10, Weise) reports, "The cost of treating cancer has doubled over the past 20 years, but those costs are in line with overall trends in health spending. And while more people are getting cancer as the US population ages, treatment has shifted away from hospitals to outpatient settings, finds a study in Monday's edition of the journal Cancer." In addition, "how the new health care bill will affect the numbers isn't clear, says Florence Tangka, a health economist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and senior author on the paper."
The AP (5/10, Stobbe) reports, "The study confounds conventional wisdom in several respects. The soaring price of new cancer treatments has received widespread attention, but the researchers conclude that rising costs were mainly driven by the growing number of cancer patients." Study data also revealed that "private insurers now cover a greater share of cancer treatment costs -- about 50 percent -- while patients' out-of-pocket costs have fallen over the past two decades." Despite the findings, "cancer accounts for only 5 percent of total US medical costs, and that has not changed in the last few decades." Meanwhile, "Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, of the American Cancer Society...said he would have expected the proportion of cancer costs to rise."
Researchers able to categorize low, medium, or high risk for future DCIS. The Los Angeles Times (5/10, Dance) reports, "After analyzing the outcomes for nearly 1,200 women who had a" ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) "surgically removed...researchers were able to categorize low, medium or high risk for future DCIS or invasive, spreading cancer." In the "study, published online April 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the researchers found that the worst offenders were DCIS detected by palpation -- that is, obvious to the touch -- or those that carried three particular chemical marks on their surface." The study indicated that "DCIS found by mammogram, or missing those marks, was far less likely to cause trouble."
High amounts of coffee, sugary soft drinks may not boost colon cancer risk. The Los Angeles Times (5/7, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported that "a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concludes that people who coffee daily -- even four or more cups -- are no more likely to develop colon cancer than those who do not drink coffee." Investigators "at the Harvard School of Public Health also concluded there's no higher risk of colon cancer among those who drink sweetened beverages daily." The researchers "did, however, find a small increase in risk of colon cancer among those who drank a lot of tea -- 32 oz or more a day."