The Financial Burden Of Cancer: Estimates From Patients In Slovenia

This paper addresses the financial burden of patients with cancer. There is extensive literature on the overall economic burden of cancer capturing direct medical costs and direct non-medical costs as well as indirect costs incurred due to health-related productivity losses from a societal perspective. In Slovenia, the estimated overall economic burden of cancer capturing health expenditure on cancer care, informal care costs and productivity losses from premature mortality and morbidity amounted to about 600 million € in total and 300 € per capita in 2018. While these estimates provide a good insight into the overall burden of cancer, there has been insufficient focus on the burden borne directly by patients and their families. This gap is addressed by our paper providing estimates on both one-off and recurring costs incurred by cancer patients in Slovenia. Data collected from 456 patients included in an extensive survey capturing both one-off costs before and after diagnosis as well as recurring costs due to informal care, travel costs and other out-of-pocket expenditures for over-the-counter medicines, food supplements, alternative medicine, physiotherapy, psychotherapy etc. reveal a notable financial burden of cancer patients in Slovenia. According to our estimates, one-off costs incurred before and after the diagnosis amount to €329 and €204 per patient. Per-patients recurring costs for informal care amount to €168, travel costs to €56 and other recurring out-of-pocket expenditures to €106.