WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES DEPENDING ON THE LONG-TERM CARE BENEFIT FOR PEOPLE WITH INCIDENT COLORECTAL CANCER IN 2016?

Abstract

People suffering from a long-term medical condition (ALD) requiring long and costly treatment are eligible for exemption of reimbursable expenses’ co-payment related to their condition. However, ALD declaration is not systematic, and some patients, although eligible, do not benefit from this scheme. This study, based on data from the Système national des données de santé (SNDS), aims at analyzing the effect of ALD cancer on out-of-pocket expenses (OOP) and their share in total expenditure, for people with incident colorectal cancer in 2016. The descriptive results for the study population, broken down by expenditure item, show that for scheme beneficiaries, the share of OOP in expenditure is lower than for people without ALD for cancer, despite much higher overall expenditure. Estimates based on matched data (in order to take into account the selection bias linked to the characteristics of ALD for cancer beneficiaries) show no significant difference in average RAC between ALD for cancer beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries for most expenditure items (with the exception of pharmacy, biology and specialist care), and significant differences in favor of ALD for cancer beneficiaries in terms of the share of RAC in expenditure (for all expenditure items studied). These results highlight, item by item, the greater coverage of healthcare expenses in the case of ALD for cancer beneficiaries, but also the persistence of higher OOP for pharmacy, biology, and specialist care items.