Cancer is ****ing evil - my family has too much

[scho63]

Just got a call from my sister back East. My first cousin, who is very close to my sister, was just diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer that is also in her liver. She is 49 years old, married to a wonderful guy and has a great family of 3 kids, she is really an incredible person we were all close to as kids and I just spoke to her Dad last week, my Uncle on my father's side. She just moved to a real nice house on the Lake in northern NJ about a month or so ago.

She was having stomach pain, went through a bunch of tests and they found nothing. It then got so bad she went to the ER in excruciating pain and suddenly they do a scan and find it.

They immediately put a port in her and are giving her chemo. Chances are very slim she makes it and while I do know that some immunotherapy with special cocktails these days, her outlook is poor.

I'm stunned and this is another of our cursed family with cancer. Like 12 of our family.

Just live your life and enjoy everyday because if you keep postponing things until the future, it may never arrive.......

I have always believed I will have a short life like so many in our family so I live it up like my time on this Earth is very limited.

Just completely stunned..........

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Sorry bud

[cmh6476]

[BWillie]

I hate the way we treat cancer in our society. We just wait around until we find out we have it. We know something is wrong, tell our doctor and they are like meh you are PROBABLY fine. Not as motivated as they should be to turn over every stone.

We should be getting ultrasounds and scans done every year regardless of health.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I hate the way we treat cancer in our society. We just wait around until we find out we have it. We know something is wrong, tell our doctor and they are like meh you are fine. Not as motivated as they should be to turn over every stone.

We should be getting ultrasounds and scans done every year regardless of health.

I assume that would be too wasteful of resources, but I do agree.

I hate that someone can appear and even feel perfectly healthy with stage 4 cancer metastasizing in their vital organs.

Also, sorry to hear it, Scho.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I assume that would be too wasteful of resources, but I do agree.

I hate that someone can appear and even feel perfectly healthy with stage 4 cancer metastasizing in their vital organs.

Also, sorry to hear it, Scho.

I mean no resources would really be wasted. Early detection of cancer would save insurance companies billions upon billions, but they'd never go for it. They only care about money they saved in the present and don't give a shit about future savings if it gives them a bad quarter.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

I mean no resources would really be wasted. Early detection of cancer would save insurance companies billions upon billions, but they'd never go for it. They only care about money they saved in the present and don't give a shit about future savings if it gives them a bad quarter.

If it would save them money and provide more efficient services with lower premiums, which would happen in a competitive landscape, a company would be offering this now. No one does, because healthcare would be unaffordable. We have a pretty darn good healthcare system. My brother received great care during his journey.

Scho, I now a fella who recovered from stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Prayers sent.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

If it would save them money and provide more efficient services with lower premiums, which would happen in a competitive landscape, a company would be offering this now. No one does, because healthcare would be unaffordable. We have a pretty darn good healthcare system. My brother received great care during his journey.

Scho, I now a fella who recovered from stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Prayers sent.

How much would a yearly ultrasound, scan and cancer screenings cost out of pocket?

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

I mean no resources would really be wasted. Early detection of cancer would save insurance companies billions upon billions, but they'd never go for it. They only care about money they saved in the present and don't give a shit about future savings if it gives them a bad quarter.

There are like 350 million people in America. Imagine every single one of them requiring a full body MRI or imaging scan or whatever it would take to detect cancerous lumps each year.

Then think about all the wasted resources we’d spend on all of the benign lumps that would inevitably pop up.

I’m no expert on the subject but I’d imagine you would end up spending a lot more on what amounts to nothing than you’d save on preventing extended treatments.

[Monticore]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

There are like 350 million people in America. Imagine every single one of them requiring a full body MRI or imaging scan or whatever it would take to detect cancerous lumps each year.

Then think about all the wasted resources we’d spend on all of the benign lumps that would inevitably pop up.

I’m no expert on the subject but I’d imagine you would end up spending a lot more on what amounts to nothing than you’d save on preventing extended treatments.

Pretty much much every CT or ultrasound has as incidental benign finding that ends up needing more imaging or follow ups that will never amount to anything . Thyroid nodules are probably the cancer we spends the most money on and there hasn’t been a change in mortality or morbidity in 50 years , been doing yearly ultrasound on the same people for 25 years even the ones that do get there thyroid removed for cancer we still do yearly F/u for possible recurrence, which I think I have see once in that time span.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I hate the way we treat cancer in our society. We just wait around until we find out we have it. We know something is wrong, tell our doctor and they are like meh you are PROBABLY fine. Not as motivated as they should be to turn over every stone.

We should be getting ultrasounds and scans done every year regardless of health.

It's because of money hungry hospitals and stupid insurance companies. Catching cancer early would save a bunch of money and that's revenue hospitals would lose. It'd save insurance companies a ton of money if they'd pay for a yearly scan, but for some reason they would never do this.

No one gives a shit about us or our health. Money is the only thing that matters to these people

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

It's because of money hungry hospitals and stupid insurance companies. Catching cancer early would save a bunch of money and that's revenue hospitals would lose. It'd save insurance companies a ton of money if they'd pay for a yearly scan, but for some reason they would never do this.

No one gives a shit about us or our health. Money is the only thing that matters to these people

It's not that simple, healthcare would be unaffordable if everyone got a yearly scan and it's foolish to say it would save money. Hospitals and Insurance Companies are making a margin similar to most other industries. Also mortality for cancer is getting better every year. Cancer sucks, but we are getting better every day. And yes, My Brother died of Brain Cancer 9 years ago. It sucks, but the healthcare system isn't the scapegoat.

[ThrobProng]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

It's because of money hungry hospitals and stupid insurance companies. Catching cancer early would save a bunch of money and that's revenue hospitals would lose. It'd save insurance companies a ton of money if they'd pay for a yearly scan, but for some reason they would never do this.

No one gives a shit about us or our health. Money is the only thing that matters to these people

This. I've actually listened to a telephone conversation where a longtime coworker was told by our health insurance company that they wouldn't pay for his liver transplant. It was about $1 million at the time. He never drank, was with the company for 30+ years, and was 2-3 months from death. They gave him a death sentence on ****ing speakerphone.

Our company ponied up the cash for him, but screw insurance companies.

[IowaHawkeyeChief]

Originally Posted by ThrobProng

This. I've actually listened to a telephone conversation where a longtime coworker was told by our health insurance company that they wouldn't pay for his liver transplant. It was about $1 million at the time. He never drank, was with the company for 30+ years, and was 2-3 months from death. They gave him a death sentence on ****ing speakerphone.

Our company ponied up the cash for him, but screw insurance companies.

That's not on the insurance company, it's on the employer for choosing that group plan. There are plans that would cover those costs but it would be much more expensive for the employer and most likely lead to less actual pay for all employees while the total benefit package would be similar. Insurance Companies get the blame many times for a policy that has clear exclusions with a reduced cost compared to plans with fewer exclusions.

[ThrobProng]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

That's not on the insurance company, it's on the employer for choosing that group plan. There are plans that would cover those costs but it would be much more expensive for the employer and most likely lead to less actual pay for all employees while the total benefit package would be similar. Insurance Companies get the blame many times for a policy that has clear exclusions with a reduced cost compared to plans with fewer exclusions.

I don't know the details of the coverage we had at the time, but I can't imagine health insurance that doesn't cover at least part of a life-saving transplant. If the plan excluded transplants, that supports my assertion that health insurance companies only care about money, and don't give a **** about people.