How Much Cancer Treatment Cost in India 2021
The cancer burden in India has more than doubled in the last two and a half decades, and this trend is expected to continue due to a variety of factors, including demographic (primarily changes in the population's age structure) and epidemiological transition (from communicable to non-communicable) changes, as well as increased case detection.
More than a million new instances of cancer were reported in India in 2018, resulting in more than 700,000 deaths, according to the latest estimates of incidence and mortality.
While many physicians are concerned about the rising number of cancer cases in the country, public health professionals are concerned about the different costs of cancer care.
The 75th wave of the National Sample Survey (NSS), which was a place between July 2017 and June 2018, revealed dismal images of cancer care in India.
We describe significant variables linked with cancer care costs at the national and state levels, including medical and non-medical expenditure, as well as public-private discrepancies, based on newly disclosed data.
Expenses for Cancer Care in 2017-18
The study comprised 1,200 cancer patients at various stages of the disease, based on symptoms that were either known or suspected. In the year leading up to the study, they had all used either inpatient or outpatient care, or both.
The average overall cancer care expense in India was roughly Rs 1,16,218. The entire cost of cancer care in private hospitals was predicted to be Rs 1,41,774, but it was anticipated to be Rs 72,092 in public hospitals. The entire cost of cancer care in India varies from Rs 74,699 in Odisha to Rs 2,39,974 in Jharkhand, according to the state-by-state trend.
The whole cost of cancer treatment in eight states, namely Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Haryana, was less than Rs 1 lakh.
Cancer sufferers in Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, on the other hand, spent between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh on treatment. Cancer treatment costs more than Rs 1.5 lakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand.
Medical and non-medical Expenses are split 50/50
The percentage share of medical and non-medical expenditures is an important factor to consider.
Medical care accounts for over 90% of total cancer treatment costs, which include spending for doctors' consultations, medicines, diagnostic tests, bed charges, and other medical services such as blood transfusions and oxygen supplementation.
The remaining 10% is allocated to non-medical expenses, such as transportation, food, escort, and transportation for other family members.
Non-medical expenses accounted for over 20% of all cancer expenditure in two states, namely Chhattisgarh and Bihar, whereas non-medical expenses accounted for over 10% of all cancer expenditure in nine states: Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Jammu & Kashmir.
Cancer-related out-of-pocket expenses
The most concerning feature of cancer care costs in India is the high out-of-pocket costs (OOP). Individuals make direct payments to healthcare providers at the time of service consumption, which is referred to as OOPs.
This excludes any payments made in advance for health services, such as taxes or specified insurance premiums or contributions, and, where possible, any reimbursements to the person who made the payment. In 2017-18, OOP covered about 93 percent of total cancer care costs (Rs 1,08,659 out of Rs 1,16,218).
The state-by-state analysis found that all cancer expenses were covered by OOP in Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, and Assam, followed by Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh (99 percent). Haryana (76%) had the lowest out-of-pocket spending for cancer care, followed by Jharkhand (78%), Andhra Pradesh (78%), and Odisha (78%). (85 percent).
Differences in out-of-pocket spending between the public and private sectors
About public and private healthcare facilities, a distinct pattern in cancer care costs has evolved. At the national level, the OOP in a public health facility was Rs 64,977, nearly twice that of a private health facility, which was nearly Rs 1,33,464.
Across the major states, there was a lot of variation in terms of public and private OOP spending on cancer care. At Tamil Nadu, for example, the out-of-pocket cost of cancer treatment in a public health facility was Rs 8,448, whereas the cost in a private health facility was Rs 2,49,086—nearly 30 times the cost in a public health facility.
The OOP spent on cancer care in a private health facility was five times greater than that in a public health facility in Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand. In Rajasthan and Bihar, on the other hand, the cost of cancer treatment in a public health institution was more than in a private one, according to the poll.
Another intriguing pattern worth mentioning is the disparity in cancer care spending between public and private health care facilities across states.
For example, in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, the out-of-pocket spending on cancer treatment in public health facilities was less than Rs 20,000, whereas, in Assam, Jammu, and Kashmir, and Rajasthan, it was more than Rs 1 lakh. In a private health facility, OOP expenditure in West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh was less than Rs 80,000, but it was more than Rs 2 lakh in Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Jharkhand.
Implications
The cost of cancer treatment in India is largely covered by personal funds. Another source of worry is wide disparities in cancer care spending between states and between public and private healthcare facilities.
Why do cancer treatment costs vary so widely even among public health facilities in some states? This needs to be looked into further. In many places, non-medical charges linked with cancer treatment constitute a substantial threat to the poor, as any healthcare insurance system, including the Ayushman Bharat Yojana (ABY), solely covers medical expenses.
All of the data shown here were gathered before the ABY's launch. As a result, using this wave of NSS data, the impact of ABY on cancer care costs could not be determined. The National Health Agency has announced that the cancer treatment packages under ABY will be revamped to include all cancers and their treatments. The extent to which the ABY has lowered OOP expenditure in cancer care at the national and state levels will have to wait until the next wave of NSS data is released.
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