WASHINGTON, DC - Cancer patients can face severe challenges in paying for life-saving care - running up large debts, filing for personal bankruptcy and even delaying or forgoing potentially life-saving treatment - even when they have private health insurance, according to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

The report profiles 20 patients and illustrates the potential difficulties people diagnosed with cancer or other serious illnesses have in maintaining affordable health insurance and paying for their health care. The patients in the report and accompanying video were selected to illustrate typical cases from the many people who call the American Cancer Society's Health Insurance Assistance Service, which helps families affected by cancer who encounter problems navigating the health care system.

For these patients, having private health insurance at the time of their cancer diagnosis did not protect them from high out-of-pocket costs - leaving them with large debts to cover their treatment costs and forcing some to skip or delay necessary treatments.

"The stories of people with cancer in this study and video documentary show what our earlier survey work found: that the insurance system often fails people when they need it most, when they get really sick," said Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman, Ph.D.

"Cancer patients too often find out that their insurance doesn't protect them when they need care the most," said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., national chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. "High out-of-pocket costs coupled with the high cost of insurance premiums can force cancer patients to incur huge debt, and to delay or forgo life-saving treatments."

The report highlights five key gaps in the health care system that can leave people with cancer and other life-threatening diseases in financial jeopardy as a result of their diagnosis:

* High cost-sharing, caps on benefits leave cancer patients vulnerable.The various types of cost-sharing and limits on benefits found in some insurance plans may quickly lead to high out-of-pocket costs once cancer treatment begins. For instance, Jamie Drzweicki of Miami ran up more than $75,000 in debts after her breast-cancer treatment costs exceeded her policy's annual limit.

* Those with employer-sponsored coverage may not be protected from catastrophically high health care costs if they become too sick to work. Most people get their health coverage through their employers, which often pay most of the premiums. Under existing law, people who lose their jobs because they are unable to work generally must decide within 60 days whether to temporarily retain their employer-sponsored coverage through COBRA by paying the full premium costs. Phyllis Miller of Johnstown, Pa., who has been unable to work since having emergency surgery for late-stage colon cancer, missed the 60-day deadline and has struggled since then to afford the premiums and cost-sharing of her less comprehensive individual policy.

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