Resources to Ease the Financial Burden of Cancer 

Medical Debt: An Unspoken Side Effect of Cancer Care  

Although the struggle to pay for cancer care may be realized after treatment has ended, it’s best to take a proactive approach. Ask your medical team if there is a patient navigator or social worker at your hospital or clinic that is available to help with financial issues as soon as possible. You can also ask about patient assistance programs through various cancer-related nonprofit organizations or the companies that make your cancer treatments. And don’t be afraid to ask for help from family and friends. Often they want to help, but don’t know how. 

Here are a few resources to help with the financial impact of cancer care, from organizations that can help pay for medication to websites that make it easy to organize fundraising and caregiving help. 

CarePages
carepages.com 
Provides personalized websites and blogs that connect friends and family during a health challenge. 

CaringBridge 
caringbridge.org 
A free service that provides personalized web pages to help keep friends and family informed of life events. 

CancerCare Financial Assistance 
cancercare.org/financial 
Offers limited assistance for cancer-related costs and professional oncology social works to help find additional resources. 

Give Forward 
giveforward.com 
Offers patients and caregivers a way to develop personalized fundraising web pages to help with the medical and household costs from cancer care. 

Lotsa Helping Hands 
lotsahelpinghands.com 
Provides a way for friends and family to pitch in with tasks, chores and errands during a crisis. 

National Council on the Aging 
benefitscheckup.org 
Finds programs that may pay the cost of prescriptions and health care services for people age 55 and older. 

NeedyMeds 
needymeds.com 
Information on patient-assistance programs designed to help those who can’t afford their medications. 

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance 
pparx.org 
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need for free or nearly free. 

Patient Advocate Foundation 
patientadvocate.org 
The PAF provides education, legal counseling, and referrals to cancer patients and survivors concerning managed care, insurance, financial issues, job discrimination, and debt crisis matters. 

Patient Assistance Programs 
curetoday.com/assistance_programs 
CURE provides a list of assistance programs from nonprofits organizations, pharmaceutical companies and institutions. SOURCE: Cure Magazine – January 2012