Hi Mama,

I think we are all in agreement that if you have the ability and opportunity and time and knowledge to obtain services at a CCC, that is a solid bet. Most get hit blindsided they have cancer and very limited time to absorb and ask all the right questions and make the right decisions when things are a blur and spinning.

I'd bet less than 50% even know the meaning of CCC on the day they start the first treatment.

Again, most are going to get care locally/regionally.

Let me share a very recent experience with having to face obtaining medical insurance coverage today. For the first 5 decades of my life I did not worry two shats about insurance as I rarely needed any service. Kids did of course so choosing the best for them was the priority. We never hit any out of pocket caps.

2013 and Don gets cancer. Fortunately, our prior coverage was good enough and shouldered the vast brunt of the financial costs.

Due to job change we need to select new medical policy. Well, reading those corp insurance packets had a level of interest never experienced before.

The lens of a consumer with a chronic disease alters the calculus of estimating total annual costs out of pocket for care.

Nothing new to say that in-network coverage is far more cost effective. It is simply luck of the draw if a disease you may contract in the future is covered in-network at a top NIH rated facility specializing in that disease.

The policy options place punishingly high caps and out of pocket expenses which are quite onerous for those of modest means. If you stay in network you still have to pay a fair amount until you hit the out of pocket max limits. Some policy options do not even have out-of-network options so you are limited to in-network providers.

We ended up choosing Kaiser as offering the best overall quality of care and the great value proposition with the most affordable limits on out of pocket expenses. I did not even pursue asking if Kaiser allows additional opinions and referrals to specialist facilities like CCC if case is rare or complex. There was no point as the other policy options has excessive out of pocket annual caps which put excessive strain on our family budget.

Long story to just highlight CCC are great but in today's realities off tightening covered medical services and ever increasing costs moving to consumers of services, it just seems clear paths to CCC are less achievable going forward.

Brian - the brief you posted is great but it refers to "inpatient" patients. I did get some service at the hospital but never admitted for any procedures. Is the term's opposite out-patient? If so, then most HNC treatments are done on an outpatient basis. For more complex cases, maybe patients are directed in-patient for services. Just not sure if that article applies to the majority who are treated on an outpatient basis.

don