It is estimated that in about 16 years, cancer will be the disease that killed the most people in the US, surpassing heart disease. Not only that, but it will also impact the pay of the doctors who treat these cancer patients. It also costs a lot for the patients to pay for the radiation therapy and the anti-cancer drugs, which don't even work as well as they used to, and are therefore ineffective.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/11/health/cancer-care-asco-report/
If there is a 42% increase in demand for oncology services by 2030 but the number of oncologists is expected to grow only 28%, there will be a shortage of 1,400 oncology doctors. Two questions come to mind- why are there so many more cancer patients and where will all these doctors come from? According to the article, these extra patients just now got health care under the ACA and my guess would be the rate of detection has also gone up. We should provide incentives like reduced tuition for college students to go to med school and into oncology. Cancer is a huge problem and we need a solution.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Maya. A possible answer to her question (why there is such an increase in patients) could be related to air pollution. From a statistic I found, about 140,000 more cars were sold in 2014 compared to 2013 in the United States: the fact that there are more cars on the road could lead to possible lung cancer as a result of breathing in exhaust. Though "clean" or "fuel efficient" cars becoming more and more popular, drivers, specifically near large cities, should definitely become more aware of their exhaust production. To make this easier, I believe smog checks should be cheaper for the public.
DeleteThis is alarming, especially because of all the people who have, sadly, died of cancer already. Although it seems doctors are doing all that they can to end the disease, I think they need more help. If we can create more effective medication for cancer and lower the cost of treatment, maybe we can finally beat cancer.
ReplyDeleteCancer is a very pressing subject, and something we need to work on. Maybe what we need to work on is not as much curing cancer, but preventing cancer in the first place. Certain diets (link to the list of them below) prevent various types of cancer, putting on sunscreen prevents skin cancer, and many other things prevent other cancers. The way might not always be the obvious way.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.everydayhealth.com/cancer-photos/top-foods-to-fight-cancer.aspx
I think that I have to agree with Andrew because there is no real way to cure cancer, because it isn't just one single disease, just a lot of Different ways that a cell could become bad. So a way to prevent it would be much more effective than a cure to just one type of cancer. Plus it isn't hard to lower your chances of contracting cancer, just by wearing sunscreen you can cut your chances of getting melanoma in half. And with a four ounce bottle of sunscreen costing about five dollars it's really not that hard to lower your chances of cancer dramatically.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jake and Andrew cancer is a very big problem and the problem with it is that there are not many cures for cancer. The other problem is that there are so many types of cancer that it is hard to cure all of them. Also the ways they do have to cure it are very expensive, "Drug prices are another big concern. When Ward started practicing, the average cancer drug cost $1,000 per month. Today, he said, the average is $10,000 per month." That is a ton of money for trying to save yourself from cancer. This is also bad because the pills and radiation are very harmful to your body.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that cancer was such a problem to the human kind. I believe that sooner or later scientists, doctors, and great thinks will somehow someway find a cure to cancer and I have had friends who have had parents with cancer, so I have experienced its awfulness first hand.
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