Extra costs associated with young people’s cancer treatment add up to almost £700 a month, research from Young Lives vs Cancer has revealed.
The research, Cancer Costs, which was sponsored by the protection company Guardian, discovered that these extra costs totaled £691 a month.
Guardian CEO Katya MacLean, lauded the usefulness of the report, stating: “This research will help advisers when they have to have those difficult conversations with clients.”
She explained it will leave advisers better informed to approach the topic when explaining the available options to their clients.
Extra costs
One of the extra costs identified in the report was travel, as Young Lives vs Cancer CEO, Rachel Kirby-Rider, explained: “Healthcare is only free if you can get to it”.
She explained that this was the most common expense as: “Treatment centers can be up to 80 miles away, on average, from where someone lives.”
Additionally, nearly all (96 per cent) young cancer patients and their families who were surveyed reported having to pay extra travel following their diagnosis and that it cost them an average of £250 a month.
Kirby-Rider additionally explained that these extra costs also exist while the patient is at the treatment center.
These include accommodation (an extra £14 a month), childcare (£30 a month), food (£144 a month), energy (£68 a month), and parking (£24 a month).
This is an issue that has only deepened in severity in recent years, as the report also discovered these costs have increased by 15 per cent since 2017.
The driving factors behind this increase was reported to be increases in travel, childcare and food costs.
Loss of income
As well as the extra costs, the report also found that a diagnosis could additionally lead to a loss of earnings, something that was reported by 71 per cent of respondents.
This was because, as the research detailed, 31 per cent of respondents reduced their hours to attend their child’s treatment, 30 per cent took unpaid leave and 32 per cent stopped working altogether.
The research detailed that this could mean a loss of more than £6,000 in annual earnings which could lead to savings being “exhausted”, according to Kirby-Rider.
Recommendations
To address the issue, the report made a number of recommendations such as financial services and energy companies ensuring they have vulnerable customers’ policies that include parents or caregivers of young cancer patients.
It additionally recommended that relevant financial support, including through the social security system, should be made more accessible to young cancer patients and their families at the point of diagnosis.
It claimed that this would help with the immediate costs associated with receiving a cancer diagnosis.
The research surveyed 259 participants including young people, as well as parents of people under 27, who have undergone cancer treatment within the past two years.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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