ATLANTA (AP) -- A surprising new study finds that the cost of treating cancer in the United States nearly doubled over the past two decades. But expensive cancer drugs may not be the main reason why.
The study found that rising costs may have been driven more by the growing number of cancer patients than by factors like the price of treatments. Researcher found that cancer accounts for only 5 percent of total U.S. medical costs, something that hasn't changed in 20 years.
The total cost of cancer treatments rose from nearly $25 billion in 1987 to more than $48 billion by the end of 2005. The study is being published in Cancer, a medical journal of the American Cancer Society.
Read more about this:
U.S. cancer costs double in two decades (Bloomberg Business Week)
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