“Financial toxicity,” described as the harmful effect of the heavy burden of treatment cost on patients, is a significant factor affecting physicians’ diagnosis, who must often consider the affordability of treatment prescribed. Nicole Huang, director of the Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, said that much work needs to be done to address the asymmetry of information between health care providers and patients and patients’ knowledge of the differences in coverage between the National Health Insurance coverage and private health insurance products, which further support the importance of improving information transparency.

Taiwan Oncology Society President Yang Chih-hsin said that what the medical community can do their part in better informing patients on the benefits, efficacy, and potential side effects of treatment options, while patients are advised to do their own homework to facilitate communications with providers. President Yang said that abroad, cancer patients rely on trusted support from patient groups in terms of accessing and gathering research literature on treatment options. However, in Taiwan, patient-doctor communication is often one-sided as patients have a high level of trust in medical professionals. An example would be the rising awareness of costly cell therapy among patients, despite reservations on efficacy held by some physicians.

Hope Foundation for Cancer Care Chairman Wang Cheng-hsu said that as more and more people rely on commercial health insurance to cover the cost of treatment, there needs to be further clarification on the wide variety of product offerings, and recommended that the government should step in to help the public select the most appropriate products.

Chairman Wang said that as information on the cost of out-of-pocket treatments is not readily available, wider disclosure will enable the public to make better decisions in commercial health insurance coverage.

[2022-12-21/United Daily News]