A Perspective on the Cost of Cancer Care

Cancer, like many chronic diseases, imposes a heavy cost on the health-care enterprise. Although the most common calculation of this cost is in monetary units, the most salient toll may be in terms of the vulnerability of disease, caregiver burdens, loss of personhood, death, grief, etc. These are the costs hidden from the ledger of health-care expenditures and impose a moral agency upon the machinations that contribute to the high cost of care. This chapter explores ways to change institutional structures and achieve a more equitable health-care system with regard to the cost of chemotherapy.