Money speaks to who gets diseases and who lives or dies from them

Whether it is cancer or some other disease, the cost of prevention and treatment often makes the decision of who lives or dies or an illness.

Research from Wake Forest University in 2010 raised concerns about cancer survivors and the fact cancer patients continue to suffer because of money woes.

Wake Forest is among those Universities actively involved in cancer research.

The research team,led by Kathryn E. Weaver, Ph.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences and lead author on the study,  looked at the prevalence of care involved in the overall treatment of cancer patients and how financial concerns impact that care.  Race and ethnic issues were also examined.

The analysis showed that among cancer survivors, the prevalence of forgoing care in the past year due to concerns about cost was 7.8 percent for medical care, 9.9 percent for prescription medications, 11.3 percent for dental care, and 2.7 percent for mental health care. Cancer survivors under the age of 65 years were one and a half to two times more likely to delay or forgo all types of medical care than their same-age peers without a history of cancer. Hispanic and black cancer survivors were more likely to go without prescription medications and dental care than white survivors.

Money problems create additional stress for those who are already under duress from medical problems.  The need for support groups is underlined by the fact that individuals need help from others about resources and emotional concerns as well.

And those who have studied those with long-term health problems, like diabetes, that give rise to serious medical issues, that includes cancer, heart disease and stroke, have found that the poor and disadvantaged are at far higher risks of death and disability than the more affluent individuals.  Again money speaks to who lives or dies today.

Future research needs to examine the impact of forgoing care on survivors’ quality of life and survival,” the authors wrote, with the need to examine the specifics services survivors did not receive in relationship to those prescribed by treating physicians.

The same is likely true of many other diseases because at the cost of preventative care and after care, what happens to patients depends upon one's finances, thus making the decision about who lives or dies from certain diseases.