Running head: FIGHTING TWO BATTLES OVER ONE Stevahn 1

Cancer: Fighting Two Battles Over One

Emily R. Stevahn

First Colonial High School

Legal Studies Academy

FIGHTING TWO BATTLES OVER ONE Stevahn 2

Abstract

Cancer patients have several different problems that they have to deal with once being

diagnosed. The main issue that patients are faced with is finances. Throughout the paper the

author focuses on the different problems that come with cancer financially. The focus throughout

the paper is specifically on finances and how they affect cancer patients. The author makes sure to

focus on all the different aspects that relate to finances and cancer patients. Through a case that

has provided as an example for future cases to come, known as the Killian v. Healthsource

Provident Admin. case, the author outlines its importance. There is focus on healthcare providers

such as Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and private health insurers and how they have changed

and affected cancer patients throughout time. As well as it described the Affordable Care Act and

how it has managed to set rules for companies that had previously not been in place, allowing for

too much lenience for the companies. The author discusses how even through the different

implementations of new and improved bills and laws, the different limitations, and unknown parts

of a contract that companies are still continuing to manage without getting caught or being held

liable for. The author managed to explain how insurances are putting the patient through the

process of denial of finances and how it affects them.

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Cancer Fighting Two Battles Over One

Doctors are there for us when needed for medical reasons; whether its concerning

questions on our health, physical examinations, prescription purposes, diagnosis, and anything

else that theyre required to do thats entitled in their job description (ACGAS ed, 2015).

Sometimes when visiting doctors, patients dont get the positive feedback that they were

looking for. In the more negative situations with the unhappy outcome there has been an

increase each year of more people being told that their headache isnt just a headache, or that

bump, isnt a little harmless bump. When you hear the words come out of a doctors mouth

saying that youve been diagnosed with cancer, most patients go into some sort of shock

almost (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 22, 2016). One of the major problems

of being diagnosed becomes the fact that theres only so far that a doctor can do to help. Many

patients who become diagnosed with cancer dont realize the financial problems until it is

affecting them (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 22, 2016). Finances for cancer

patients have progressively become a more extensive problem year after year with the increase

of costs for the different medicines and other medical expenses needed for cancer treatments

and the lack of financial help with insurance companies (Ramsey et al., 2013). Insurance

companies have gotten away with avoiding financial help to those that are diagnosed and in

need of support for a long time even after the implementations of healthcare helpers to help

those in financial need, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare (Jost, 1998). Where the

companies have had more difficulty with finding ways to not provide the finances to those

diagnosed with cancer in need since the implementation of things such as Obamacare, there are
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still problems we see that are happening with finances being provided to the patients in dire

need (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016).

Defining the Problem

Cancer is a hardship that has affected many throughout the world, and the number affected

continues to grow. Each year there is an increase in the amount of people diagnosed; research and

statistics show that each year there are about 14 million new people diagnosed (Walshe, 2016).

Before starting treatments for a newly diagnosed patient, doctors try to figure out a treatment plan

for the patients based on what theyre diagnosed with, and their budget; since not everyone has

the same budget range, or the same diagnosis, the doctors making these treatment plans use them

to try to take away some of the stress that these patients are having stacked up on their plate

(Noblick, Monson, Bires, & Norris, 2011).

Throughout the duration of time that this patient is diagnosed, finances affect them in

much more of a tremendous way than the general public understands. For many, the

accumulation of out-of-pocket expenses associated with care, such as those for prescription

medications, medical devices and supplies, copayments, and transportation to appointments can

exceed what is manageable for individuals and families, leading to medical debt (Noblick, et al.

2011). Doctors are frequently having to undergo and see the problems that affect these patients

and are trying to find a compensating way to help these patients get the financial, and medical

help that they need (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016). A patient can be

affected by this dreadful disease in various different ways. Where finances are a problem,

insurance companies are doing nothing to help the situation for these patients that need the critical

health care that their diagnosis requires for them to survive (Noblick, et al. 2011). One thing that

companies do is that some never explain to you the large deductible that you have not payed
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them. They will use this to get out of allowing for financial help for the patients that they

represent. The large deductible is normally for most patients something that can not be paid all at

once, which the companies will make it so that payments for expensive treatments and

prescriptions is avoided; which is a problem for most cancer patients because of the expenses,

which vary depending on the diagnosis of the patient (L. Levin, Personal communication,

November 21, 2016).

With financial aid being such a major problem for cancer patients, what most dont take

into consideration is the critical care that these patients are faced with. Depending on how severe

their diagnosis is and the stage of cancer they are faced with could lead to them being in critical

care, bed-bound, in an in-patient care arrangement, or another problem that they are faced with

that could lead to unemployment (Noblick, et al. 2011). Due to some stages of cancer making it so

that some that are diagnosed can barely move, employers can make it so that these patients are put

on a temporary or permanent leave, and can legally use their diagnosis as a disability because they

can no longer perform their job to the best of their ability or at all anymore (L. Levin, Personal

communication, November 21, 2016). Even for those that are diagnosed and can still physically

and mentally manage keeping their job, the costs for some of the different medical needs are still

a problem for patients. Those patients who are able to maintain employment and, thus, their

insurance coverage, may still fall into medical debt (Noblick, et al. 2011).

The Barriers

Cancer brings along several different barriers for the patients, in which plenty of them are

involved with the financial portion that comes along with the diagnosis. Where

employment/unemployment can be a problem/barrier for these patients, there are many other
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barriers that these patients have to face while already going through all the other struggles that

cancer brings along with it (Noblick, et al. 2011).

The Role of Race, Ethnicity, and Social Ranking

Race, Ethnicity, and your social ranking have been a problem for years, but it also affects

us when it comes to the amount of financial support that we could potentially be granted. With a

survey taken in 1998 in Texas, it showed the diverse amount of healthcares and how different

races, ethnicities, and social statuses were affected by health insurance companies (Guidry, Aday,

Zhang, & Winn, 1998). With barriers affecting people differently it allowed researchers to see that

there is copious amounts of room for improvement in making it so that all patients are treated

equally. In the study it showed that at the time African Americans were more likely to have more

barriers compared to everyone else. It also depicted that caucasian americans were more likely to

have a private healthcare and a higher standard of care than anyone else in the nation (Guidry, et

al. 1998) When interviewed, Dr. Levin described that he would recommend to patients to look up

any potential financial barriers that could affect them at the beginning of their diagnosis to see if

any could be potentially avoidable (2016). Through looking at different states across the nation,

just as Texas had, Florida looked at its citizens who had been diagnosed with cancer and looked

into the different types of people who had been diagnosed, what type of diagnosis they were

given, who they were being covered by, and what type of quality of insurance they had.

Researchers found that it was more likely that with a lower quality insurance and if you were a

minority, then you most likely were going to end up being diagnosed with a later stage of cancer

and with less financial help (Roetzheim, R. G., Pal, N., Tennant, C., Voti, L., Ayanian, J. Z.,

Schwabe, A., & Krischer, J. P., 1999). Still with these statistics being what they are it shows that

there needs to be a better system that prevents one person to receive better care than another.
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Where some would be able to afford more is a different story, but the quality of care should all be

the same (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016).

Obamacare, Medicare, & Medicaid

When it comes to the different type of health insurance you have as your provider there

are different standards given to each. If you have a private healthcare provider, obamacare,

medicare, medicaid, or any other health care provider thats available, youre given a different

standard of what type of quality of healthcare youre going to be provided with. If you have a

private healthcare insurance provider you have more of a probability of being diagnosed and

treated sooner than someone without a private healthcare insurer. Whereas those with medicare

and medicaid have a less likely probability of being diagnosed in the earlier stages of their type of

cancer (Roetzheim et al., 1999). Some believe that medicaid and medicare have been brought to

the best of their ability and were golden, so to speak, from the start. Whereas others believe that

medicare and medicaid have never been thoroughly helpful and have not done what they were

created to do from the beginning (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). Its

believed that those with medicare or medicaid have not been provided with what the potential of

what the two of these healthcare providers were predicted to give to the public. When looked at,

medicare and medicaid at a large spectrum were compared with all cancer patients and out of

those that had passed from cancer. Many of those that passed away from cancer statistically had

medicare or medicaid as their health care provider and 70% of those that passed with medicare or

medicaid passed in a painful manner, according to Timothy Jost (1998). Where there are those

such as Timothy Jost that argue that the implementation of these two healthcare providers has

done nothing to help, there are those that oppose that view. Oncology Social Worker, Ms Blosser,

brought up a point that the implementation of new bills are there to see how our community reacts
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to the new laws and to see that there are other trends that are behind the scenes, in a sense, that are

allowing others to take the blame, That being said, there is reason to amend or adapt the law as

happened with SSA and Medicare at initial implementation when we see what works and what

doesnt (2016).

With the creation of medicare and medicaid came more problems than had been planned

on which caused more bills to be written to amend and adapt the previous bills enforcing these

healthcare providers (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). Congress wanted

to make sure that problems were fixed so they passed the Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2015 .

The Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2015 was created so that any newly elected president must,

declare that no reduction shall be made with respect to payments for physician-administered

drugs and biologicals (H.R. 1416, March 18, 2015). This Congressional Bill was created to

allow Medicare to transform into something that the community could truly start benefitting from.

Its possible future implementation would be to make sure than the amount patient's are paying for

is not changing tremendously. Its potential is to make sure that those being provided with these

services are not panicking due to the newly elected presidents new stance on cancer finances and

how much money should be put towards finances for keeping costs for these patients low (H.R.

1416, March 18, 2015).

A newer bill that was passed in the house of representatives in June of 2016 and is pending

on senate for consideration is called, Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act of 2016 (H.R.

5273, 2016). Its major focus is to, provide for regulatory relief under the Medicare program for

certain providers of services and suppliers and increased transparency in hospital coding and

enrollment data, and for other purposes(H.R. 5273, 2016). The potential for this possible new

bill is to help more of the elderly cancer patients with making sure that their finances are
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managed, which would differ from the younger generations who are affected by cancer who do

not receive much help from Social Security (Ramsey et al., 2013).

Where age could potentially become a factor for whether certain laws allow you to benefit

from them as a cancer patient, for others, thats the least of their worries. For cancer patients there

are so many different factors that play such a major role in their finances its hard to determine the

major effector for all patients. According to Ms. Blosser, There are some limits that people dont

always know they have, an example being that those that have Medicare as their provider dont

realize that when they are in in-patient care, they only have a limited number of days before they

stop helping them financially (2016). There as of now is no known Bill that is going against this,

but there is Bill which is called Medicare Patient Access to Cancer Treatment Act of 2015 that a

congressional committee is recommending, To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to

establish payment parity under the Medicare program for ambulatory cancer care services

furnished in the hospital outpatient department and the physician office setting (H.R. 2895,

2015). With this being in the progress of becoming a Federal Bill, its to see that there is potential

in the future to allow Medicare cancer patients with some sort of outpatient care in place so they

can receive the care that they need who can no longer afford to be in an in-patient care provider

care (H.R. 2895, 2015).

Where medicare and medicaid are health care services that have only affected some

Americans, since 2015 almost all American citizens have been affected by ACA or what you

could also refer to as Obamacare (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016).

Obamacare, which was put in place in 2015, was a bill that was built to try and make it so that

everyone was covered or provided with a health insurance. Where there are some that argue that

this has caused more problems than help in any way good, others argue opposite. In an interview
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with Ms. Blosser, who is an oncology social worker, she discussed different types of situations

shes seen with Obamacare. I find that many detractors do not understand the nature of

insurance risk pools and reimbursement and blame the ACA for trends in the industry that have

been going on for much longer than this law has been in place. (J. Blosser, Personal

communication, December 12, 2016). She also discussed the fact that when dealing with

Obamacare, looking from the time it was implemented to now, whether it has affected those who

are financed by it in any negative way, if you look at the bigger picture and take to the amount of

people with health insurance then, to the amount that are covered by health insurance now, it has

certainly increased (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). From 2013 to 2014

there was a major increase in the amount insured for those that earn less than the rest of the

community. Those who make less than $25,000 a year were roughly in between 75%-79%

insured, where after the introduction of Obamacare and the statistics were retaken in 2014, it had

already increased to in between 82%-84% being insured (Sanger-katz, 2015).

Healthcare and its Flaws

Where there are several different barriers for cancer patients whether its relating to what

your background is, or the type of healthcare provider you have, health care insurance has many

flaws that go deeper than the surface. Finances are the leading problem for cancer patients

throughout their treatments and insurance companies making finding help with finances more

complicated for them makes situations much more difficult for these patients (J. Blosser, Personal

communication, December 12, 2016). For the younger generations with more money problems in

general out of everyone, from college debt or struggling from a beginning of a career with less

money than the older generations, have been viewed throughout the years that those diagnosed

with cancer are more in chance of filing for bankruptcy compared to other generations. This isnt
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as much of a problem for the older generations and it is believed to be because of Social Security

help, as well as medicare, which are proven to help older generations out more than the younger

(Ramsey et al., 2013). The effects of Social Security helping the older generations more could

potentially increase, leaving the younger generations with even far more debt than the older

generations with the pending Congress Bill, Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act (H.R.

5273, 2016). With this potential bill, that is yet to be passed by the Senate and was introduced in

May of 2016, it is proposing, To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for

regulatory relief under the Medicare program for certain providers of services and suppliers and

increased transparency in hospital coding and enrollment data, and for other purposes (H.R.

5273, 2016). could potentially help benefit the older generations affected my Social Security Act,

but not as much the younger who are in the most need of finances (H.R. 5273, 2016).

Where insurance companies still continue to cause more problems than necessary for

cancer patients, through the introduction of Obamacare, it has allowed people to have less

problems than they had before its implementation (L. Levin, Personal communication, November

21, 2016). With having more people insured and more companies not being able to deny patients

finances with no back up reasoning any longer, has caused less problems, but the problem has not

gone away permanently (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). With

insurance companies no longer being able to deny pre-existing conditions with a patient, it has

allowed for less external legal issues as far as we know. Yet, it could be a potential problem with it

never getting out of an internal legal situation, and the patient could not ever get compensated for

the company not providing what was promised (L. Levin, Personal communication, November

21, 2016). Where Obamacare continues to make it so that everyone has health insurance, there

was almost a potential problem at the beginning of our 2016 Election with President-elect Donald
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Trump with him saying that he wanted to repeal Obamacare. With the possibility driven into our

heads and still up in the air as of the potential repeal and replacement of Obamacare now that

President-elect, Donald Trump, has won the 2016 election for the presidency of the United States

has scared those that Obamacare was helping (Obamacare Facts, 2016). If he was to repeal

Obamacare there is the possibility that Donald Trump could get rid of these conditions that has

caused insurance companies to be able to go back to how things were before these conditions

were put in place. Insurance companies could get away with denying pre-existing conditions

again if that portion of the Affordable Care Act was taken out, which would only cause problems

that had already been fixed to go back to being how they were before the implementation of the

Affordable Care Act (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016).

Court Cases and Laws

Killian v. Healthsource Provident Admin.

In the case of Killian v. Healthsource Provident Administrators, the focus of the trial was

on the denial of financial help where there was an interest of conflict and violated the terms of the

agreement to the patient Carolyn Matkin. The plaintiffs argument was that her health insurance,

Healthsource Provident Administrators Inc.s, decision to deny her medical finances was unruly

and unfair. The decision to deny coverage for finances for Matkin was because the company

deemed that the treatment was too preliminary and not a reliable tool that they should put their

financial assistance towards as a healthcare provider, in which Matkin believed was completely

outrageous. The court ruled in favor of Matkin finding that the health insurance company was in

the wrong and was found to have no proof behind their decision based on it being extremely too

preliminary. It as well did not make sense with the previous contract that had already been
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committed, and had the conflict of interest at hand of who would decide the finances, as well as

manage the business in totality (Killian v. Healthsource Provident Admin).

Matkins company appealed the case to US Circuit court, but since Matkin had been in

critical condition and did not get the chance to have the treatment that the company would not

provide finances for, Matkin passed away from her condition before the appeal could be held. She

was represented which is why in the case her name is not being present as the plaintiff, but

throughout they referred to her as the plaintiff so that those involved in the case did not have any

sort of confusion while investigating this case in court. It was an important case for the topic of

cancer patients who have had to fight insurances for financial help through the fact that the

insurance company was held liable for not pursuing the financial help for the plaintiff and through

the fact that the company had the conflict of interest at hand, being that the insurer was both the

head executor and the person who decided how much financial aid to provide to the patient being

covered.This case allowed for patients that have similar problems with insurance companies to

use as an example for them when having to deal with situations that give them a roadblock in

their fight for financial help when battling cancer (Killian v. Healthsource Provident Admin). The

reason that cases for this topic are so important is because these companies try to avoid court as

much as they can due to trying to manage to keep a good reputation (J. Blosser, Personal

communication, December 12, 2016). Not many are truly taken to court and deal with more

internal law in which they somehow manage to avoid being held legally responsible for denying

payment for the patients (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016).

Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act has affected those diagnosed with cancer in a tremendous amount

of ways that some dont even know affects them until they have become diagnosed with it. For
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companies that would gain monetary value and cause those that are affected by cancer who are

having financial struggles just to cause more stress than they are already having to deal with,

allowed the Affordable Care Act to help fix situations like these. Insurers cannot deny coverage

for pre-existing conditions, unless they are grandfathered individual health plans ("Cancer and

the Affordable Care Act," 2015). Where there are still companies denying finances that do not

follow contracts, this portion of the Act has helped immensely. Not only have companies had

more problems avoiding providing financial help for those that have them for their health

insurance provider, but they have also been taken away the advantage for being sexist. They can

no longer charge you more if you have a condition that is much more specific/rare than others

making it so that you have very specific/rare treatments; nor can they deny less financial help to

any gender more than the other based on what gender they are ("Cancer and the Affordable Care

Act," 2015).

Where companies had been getting away with not providing finances much easier back

before the Affordable Care Act had been passed, they do not have that same legal luxury anymore.

Another section of the Act states, Insurers cannot take away coverage except in cases of fraud.

Previously, insurance companies could cancel coverage for an error or technical mistake in a

patient's insurance application. This practice is now illegal ("Cancer and the Affordable Care

Act," 2015). Through making this a part of the Affordable Care Act, it has allowed our country to

have more people that are being provided with a healthcare. According to Ms. Blosser, our

government has seen the most amount of people being provided with a health insurance because

of the Affordable Care Act (2016).

Where the Affordable Care Act has provided those with cancer an easier way to manage

finding an insurance company who can not find loopholes in their contract, there are still
FIGHTING TWO BATTLES OVER ONE Stevahn 15

companies that have continued to every once in awhile. Finding that one problem in the contract

with one of the patients that they cover is one thing that healthcare providers are very good at

managing to do. According to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies that deny payment

for a treatment or service are required to conduct internal appeals at the patient's request within

specific timelines ("Cancer and the Affordable Care Act," 2015). With the Affordable Care Act,

or ACA, there is room for managing of the situation to not allow the patient who was denied, full

compensation for the problem at hand that is being appealed.Not all patients know their rights and

whether they are being given what they should be financially. Making the internal appeal aspect

apart of the ACA allowed for a huge gap of opportunity for companies to get away with

situations, just so their name, credit, and reputation is not representing as poor quality when heard

of (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). If you allow for the government to

get involved it could allow for a new case law for future cases to follow after and for them to

make sure that the companies are handling the appeals correctly. They avoid external legal issues

so that they can avoid having a bad reputation, and stay as internal, legally, as they possibly can

(L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016).

Prior to Congress passing the Affordable Care Act there were cases such as the Killian v.

Healthsource Provident Admin. where these companies could get away with denying finances for

patients because they did not believe that they had to provide finances for a patient that was going

to be apart of a clinical trial. Where there is still the possibility for situations such as Ms.

Matkins, the Affordable Care Act has made it so that Insurance Companies, such as Healthsource

Provident Admin., as in the Killian v. Healthsource Provident Admin. case, can not legally get

away with denying or restricting financial assistance to a patient justified only because they are

participating in any sort of clinical trial. This has allowed and provided more opportunities for
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patients to find some sort of care, no matter which type of cancer that they are diagnosed with

("Cancer and the Affordable Care Act," 2015).

Post-Cancer Diagnosis Related Finances

Where theres the physical aspect of cancer during the treatments and undergoing the

problems that the diagnosis causes, there is also the post-diagnosis that is overlooked immensely.

Patients, especially those that are diagnosed with a more progressed stage, have had this disease

become their everyday life; some got laid off or some were physically incapable of managing

fighting for their life, and fighting to keep and work at their job (L. Levin, Personal

communication, November 21, 2016). There are many adults with mental health conditions who

lack the skills to manage a stable life but could with proper independent living assistance (J.

Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). This disease can take not only a physical

toll on those affected by it, but also a mental toll on those that had been diagnosed and/or are still

diagnosed (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016). The complication with

mental health issues is that when covering for costs for cancer the point of financial help is

normally to allow the patient to not have to stress over the costly treatments, but when it comes to

their mental health costs there is no true equality between coverage between the two. The

question is whether there is parity between medical and mental health coverage and whether there

are adequate community resources to provide structure, care, and treatment(J. Blosser, Personal

communication, December 12, 2016). Ms. Blosser when discussing the different types of

shortages in mental health coverage is that in Virginia alone there is such an astonishing amount

of scarcity when it comes to mental health programs around the state. With her work focused

mainly in Virginia, she strives to help cancer patients find as much availability for cost assistance
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as she can, but there is a major difficulty in her line of work related to mental health financial

problems (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016).

For people with health insurance, the concern might not be as great. But some insurance

plans wont cover the most expensive, sometimes most-necessary treatments (Elkins, 2015). For

post treatment plans, there are still follow ups and other payments that these patients have to

manage that can still be costly, especially after all the costs of the physical treatments alone. Once

it comes time, for those who survived the diagnosis, for the post-diagnosis coverages, this is

where different advocacy groups step in (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21,

2016). Advocacy groups such as The Livestrong Foundation have managed to raise money

through races that have helped patients that could not afford all the finances that are needed pre-

cancer, during the treatment of the diagnosis, and post-cancer (Livestrong Foundation, 2016).

Then theres Americas leading cancer patient advocacy group, American Cancer Society, that

hosts different types of charity events to raise money so that they can help those fighting cancer

who cant afford the finances ("Cancer and the Affordable Care Act," 2015). Where there are

plenty of other advocacy groups across the nation, these are just a few of the more well known

ones and the bigger organizations. Organizations similar to these advocacy groups were created to

allow for financial help for these patients, especially for post-cancer coverages that just dont fit

the amount that the patient can afford because healthcare does not always automatically help with

things such as post-cancer coverages (L. Levin, Personal communication, November 21, 2016).

Understanding the Problem

What the community does not understand is how much these companies are hurting

patients (Krause, 2006). What is being seen is that loopholes are more of a miscommunication

from the insurance companies. Where not all companies are trying to trick those that they cover
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from providing finances, there are those that do (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December

12, 2016). A major thing that companies do through miscommunication is that they do not explain

from the start that some that are covered by these health insurances have large deductibles. Until

its time for patients to ask for finances, some companies do not explain this to those that they are

covering until it causes the patient from being stuck in a tricky situation (L. Levin, Personal

communication, November 21, 2016). Where theres the problem with large deductibles that

patients have not paid off, theres also other situations that companies have limits/unknown

miscommunications that those being covered normally are unaware of.For those being covered

by Medicare or Medicaid low reimbursement rates are not uncommon (J. Blosser, Personal

communication, December 12, 2016). For Medicare theres also that they do not pay for things

such as IV home infusions, and they only allow coverage for a certain amount of days while

youre considered an in-patient. Another loophole or miscommunication that Ms. Blosser sees in

her career is that Medigap protocol can not give to people under the age of 65 in the state of

Virginia (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). Limitations, loopholes, and

other mischievous attempts from health insurance companies have become not as severe since the

implementation of laws such as the Affordable Care Act. Yet for the healthcare industry to ever

get rid of this problem, when it comes to companies and finances, legally, the healthcare system

still has a ways to go ("Cancer and the Affordable Care Act," 2015).

Conclusion

When it comes to the treatments for cancer we rely on doctors, but they can only go so far

to help the patient, especially when there is very little finances available for treatments. With each

year there being about 14 million new cases of people being diagnosed with cancer, that leaves

more room for insurers to get away with not providing the substantial amount of financial need,
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and less opportunity for patients to get the treatments to help them (Walshe, 2016). With finances

for cancer patients becoming more problematic each year with costs increasing for different

medical expenses needed for cancer treatments, while factoring in the lack of financial help with

insurance companies, it becomes more and more of a problem (Ramsey et al., 2013). With the

implementation of different bills and laws for our country, such as the Affordable Care Act, which

have allowed for the implementation of healthcare providers, such as Medicare, Medicaid,

Obamacare, it has allowed for growth in the healthcare insurance problem that has improved, but

yet we still see problems ("Cancer and the Affordable Care Act," 2015). Where we still see the

problems, and where it is difficult to fix all of them in such a rush, with the future and possible

implementation of bills to help fix financial problems in Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, we

could see change rapidly (Roetzheim et al., 1999). Where cancer and the affects it has on a person

financially, weve seen the affects of new and improved implementations and how changing and

amending the bills and laws now can help for those in future need of finances relating to cancer

(J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016). Throughout the years weve seen

major changes from even just the 1980s to present that have affected and helped change coverage

for patients in need of help for finances that will continue from future implementations that will

affect healthcare and how it deals with healthcare and its providing with finances with cancer

patients (J. Blosser, Personal communication, December 12, 2016).

FIGHTING TWO BATTLES OVER ONE Stevahn 20

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