The “financial toxicity” of a cancer diagnosis

Cancer has been in the headlines a lot lately. Last week, only days after 43-year-old actor Olivia Munn shared a moving Instagram post about her recent fight with breast cancer, 42-year-old Catherine, Princess of Wales, also went public with her own cancer diagnosis.

If these women seem too young to be talking about cancer, it’s because they are. But early-onset cancer diagnoses are becoming ‌more and more common — especially for women. According to the American Cancer Society, in the US, a woman's likelihood of being diagnosed before the age of 50 is approximately 1 in 17, while a man’s chance is approximately 1 in 29.

Yes, there’s even a gender gap in cancer rates. But that’s not the only gender disparity. Two new reports found that women pay a “pink tax” when it comes to health care. The first report, by Deloitte, found that women with employer insurance pay $15.4 billion more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men. On average, that’s about $266 more for each woman.

The second report, by the Susan G. Komen organization, found that almost half of breast cancer patients (99% of whom are women) report that financial stress during cancer treatment affects the choices they make about their treatment, medications, and more.

This is what they call “financial toxicity” — or the negative impact that financial stress can have on a patient’s quality of life. At Ellevest, we found through our own research that financial health has a major impact on other aspects of women’s health. Ultimately, financial health is mental health is physical health.

No one is ever prepared for a cancer diagnosis — no matter what age, gender, or socioeconomic background you come from. But you can prepare yourself financially for a medical emergency to not only ease the financial burden for Future You, but to mitigate any stress you have now about the mere possibility of such an emergency.

We’ve got some tips for you on how to do that — click the link to keep reading.