Cost of Breast Cancer Treatment

Before I get into the costs, a little explanation of terms:

Billed amount - What the provider usually charges.
Paid by plan - What insurance actually paid. This is substantially lower than the billed rate because there is a discounted rate negotiated between insurance and provider, AKA plan rate.
Paid by me - Difference between plan rate and amount paid by plan.

This is the total cost from the time I was diagnosed until my chemo port was removed:

Billed amount: $2.4M
Paid by plan: $1.1M
Paid by me: $8,600

I didn't actually pay $8,600. I had financial help from Amgen, Genentech and Kaiser. My cost was closer to $4K.

Some notable prices:

Procedure	Cost
Chemo	$440K
Lumpectomy	$46K
Radiation therapy	$100K
Kadcyla	$436K
Chemo port	$27K

Chemo cost is interesting. Some of my infusions were Taxol only, and some were combined with Herceptin and Perjeta which are immunotherapy drugs. The Taxol infusions cost $5K, but when combined with Herceptin and Perjeta, the price shot up to $54K. 

Stanford's prices are highly inflated. Some examples:

Item	Billed amt	Paid by plan
Kadcyla (per infusion)	$91,653	$42,160
Office visit	$712	$214
Bone density scan	$1,243	$572

Price comparison among providers:

Procedure	Stanford	Kaiser	PAMF
Kadcyla infusion	$42,160	$11,410
Echocardiogram	$2,843	$962
Biopsy	$8,800		$4,200
MRI	$7,178		$3,374
Physical therapy		$104	$296

In summary, cancer treatment is expensive. Don't get sick without health insurance.