Children Diagnosed With Cancer: Financial and Insurance Issues

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, families and parents will need to know about and cope with many problems. This document, which offers ideas for managing the costs of cancer diagnosis and treatment, is one in a series of documents for parents and caregivers of a child with cancer. The other documents have information on how to cope with the cancer diagnosis, understanding the health care system, returning to school, and the late effects of cancer treatment.

If your child has been diagnosed with cancer, the last thing you want to think about is money. But families are usually forced to think about this issue sooner rather than later. There are financial resources that may be able to help you with the mounting costs that often come with this disease. These resources can be health insurance, government programs, disability benefits, and aid from voluntary organizations.

Even if your child has health insurance, you’ll find that it doesn’t cover everything. And even if your child is well-insured, cancer can cause financial problems.

If your child isn’t covered by health insurance, it can be really scary. But there are other options for paying for treatment you should know about.

This information is not meant as expert professional advice for any person, family, or insurance situation. If you need help, it’s best to use a financial professional. We will try to give you information about:

• Keeping and managing private health plans or health insurance
• Government-funded insurance plans
• Options if your child is uninsured or hard to insure
• Getting help with living expenses
• Other resources you can look into