Gather Round For Story Time About Cancer Costs

BoingBoing’s Xeni Jardin has breast cancer, and she is just killing it everyday on Twitter with her insights and discussions with other survivors and their families (she live-tweeted the mammogram that led her diagnosis and has been going ever since — unbelievable).

She compiled the following conversation about cancer costs on Storify four months ago. She shares some of her own costs (“When I walked in to the chemo clinic, before they hooked me up to my drip I was presented with a bill for more than a thousand dollars: my out-of-pocket, after insurance. I get a bill every two weeks, each time I go in for an infusion”). Others share their stories, too (“After my fiance’s diagnosis, we ended up losing our house and are now in bankruptcy. And we had ‘good’ insurance!”)

The conversation is months old but still relevant — and so important. Obamacare may prevent some of these crises, but it won’t take care of all of them. Our healthcare system ruins lives, even in instances when it successfully treats disease.

[<a href=”http://storify.com/xeni/on-cost-and-cancer-in-america” target=”_blank”>View the story “On Cost and Cancer in America “ on Storify</a>]

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