Movember Money: How Much Do Men's Health Issues Cost?
During November, you likely noticed an unusually high number of mustaches out and about. The men sporting those mustaches did it in support of Movember, an initiative designed to raise awareness of men's health issues. In the spirit of awareness, which doesn't need to end when the month itself does, let's look at the costs associated with common men's health concerns.
Prostate Cancer
When people think of men's health issues, one of the first conditions that comes to mind is prostate cancer. This is perhaps due to increased awareness, which has helped lower death rates from prostate cancer by nearly 50 percent since 1992. In fact, survival rates for those who identify the cancer at an early stage are at 100 percent.
So, how much does it cost? Like much of health care pricing, the answer to that question is it varies. Hospitals and doctors can charge whatever they want for services, and usually charge different prices to Medicare, private insurers and cash-paying patients.
We do have some price indicators, however. In 2010, medical costs associated with prostate cancer were about $12 billion in the U.S., which is just under 10 percent of total cancer costs that year. Considering that prostate cancer accounts for 14 percent of new cancer cases each year, it's slightly more expensive than other cancers.
Costs per patient are harder to calculate, but a study published in December 2012 attempted to do so. That study found that for localized prostate cancer, total charges ranged from $19,001 for robotic surgery to $50,276 for radiation therapies. Those charges are without insurance, which typically covers 60 to 90 percent of costs.
Testicular Cancer
Also high on the men's health radar is testicular, or testis, cancer, though the threat level of this one is much lower than prostate cancer. Unless you're young, that is. More than 80 percent of all testicular cancer diagnoses occur in males under the age of 45.
Since testicular cancer is rare as cancers go, cost analyses are limited. One study, however, estimates costs to the U.S. health care system in 2013 were anywhere from $153 million to $201 million. That's based on an estimated $50,000 for treating advanced forms of the cancer, and $21,737 for less advanced stages.
Depression
Unlike prostate and testicular cancer, depression might not register for many as a men's health issue. It's true that depression is much more commonly diagnosed in women, but that doesn't mean that men don't feel depression's crippling weight.
In fact, some psychologists hypothesize that because showing emotion is often seen as a weakness in men, there may be many more undiagnosed men with depression than previously thought. Add to that the fact that men and women feel depression differently, and many men may not even realize they have a form of depression. Plus, men are more likely to die by suicide due to depression than are women, so the need for awareness of depression's impact on men is dire.
Since men's depression is more likely to go undiagnosed, it's hard to know what it costs to treat. However, we do know that in 2009, $6.1 billion was spent to treat men's depression, compared with $16.7 billion spent on women's depression that year.
Heart Disease
Even though heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women, men are disproportionately affected by this disease class. Heart disease takes the lives of more than 300,000 American men every year, accounting for 1 in 4 male deaths. About half of all heart disease deaths in men come without prior symptoms having shown.
As a nation, we spent $444 billion to treat heart disease in 2010, which is about $1 out of every $6 spent on health care that year. Since the term "heart disease" encompasses the entire family of cardiovascular diseases, cost per patient is hard to calculate. However, we can look at some examples.
The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that the average cost to health insurers for the first 90 days following a heart attack is $38,501. For a stroke, it's $15,000 90 days after the event. Medicare, on average, spends $14,000 on hospital bills per patient in the year following a heart attack. Costs are calculated this way because numerous follow-up appointments and tests are required after a cardiac event.
Lung Cancer
Lung cancer, which is typically caused by cigarette smoking, is not always thought of as a men's health issue, but like heart disease, it affects men at a higher rate than women. Unlike the other cancers on this list, lung cancer tends to carry a poor prognosis. That means treatment is more aggressive but doesn't last as long as treatments for other cancers.
According to the National Cancer Institute, costs to treat lung cancer average nearly $70,000 for adults over 65, who are at the highest risk. In the last year of life, those treatment costs soar to more than $92,000. Since tobacco use is the No. 1 known cause of lung cancer, the best means of prevention is to abstain from tobacco consumption.
