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Treatment Costs
The costs of treating mesothelioma are often very high. Many mesothelioma patients try to recover these costs by seeking legal compensation.
Key Points
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Mesothelioma treatment costs can can even reach over a million dollars.
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Primary costs come from treatment itself, like surgery or chemotherapy.
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Secondary expenses include travel costs, lost wages, interest on debt, and more.
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Help is available for patients and their families to pay for the high costs of treatment.
Mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer, and treating it often requires a range of expensive procedures, prescriptions, and palliative measures. These costs can accumulate quickly, rising into hundreds of thousands of dollars. In some cases, medical costs for mesothelioma can reach over a million dollars.
How much an individual has to pay for their mesothelioma therapy depends on a wide variety of factors.
Primary Costs of Mesothelioma Treatment
In most cases, the largest portion of the cost for treatment is related to diagnostic tests and the primary therapies used to fight the mesothelioma. These therapies can be administered in an attempt to eradicate the cancer altogether, or as part of a palliative care plan to relieve pain and symptoms of the disease.
Note that these costs are only for the individual diagnostic procedures and therapies involved. Additional fees and costs may be incurred for anesthesia, blood tests, prescriptions, or consultation and follow-up visits to the doctor, among other things.
Experimental Treatment Costs
The costs for experimental treatments are not covered by insurance, meaning that patients or their families may need to pay for such therapies themselves. On the other hand, many new treatments may be covered by funds being used as part of a clinical trial. Eligibility requirements for experimental trials of treatments vary – mesothelioma patients should talk with their doctor to identify clinical trials they may be able to participate in.
Secondary Costs of Mesothelioma Treatment
In addition to the costs of treatment given as part of curative or palliative care, many mesothelioma patients and their families incur additional expenses related to their treatment plan. The amount and types of these costs will vary widely from person to person.
These are just some of the types of costs that mesothelioma patients and their families incur as an effect of their treatment plans.
Alternative Treatment Costs
Many mesothelioma patients seek out complementary and alternative medical treatments to supplement or replace their primary therapies. In some cases, such treatments can provide relief of symptoms or even enhance the effectiveness of the main course of care. The costs of these alternative treatments can vary widely.
When considering alternative forms of care, it is incredibly important to consult with your doctors to make sure these supplemental treatments do not interfere with your primary therapy.
These are just some of the costs associated alternative treatments that mesothelioma patients seek out. Additional costs may be significant depending on which complementary and alternative treatments are ultimately chosen.
Keeping Mesothelioma Treatment Costs Low
Although mesothelioma treatment costs are often high, there may be some ways to reduce the amount patients and their families have to pay.