Poor breast cancer patients skipping hormone pills

Another issue has surfed showing the difficulties the health-care industry faces when it tries to serve the poor. Researchers in North Carolina have found that four in ten women with low income and that are recovering from breast cancer are not taking the medications that are recommended to keep the cancer from returning. This study included 1,491 women with the average age being 67 who were recovering from breast cancer and had been diagnosed between 1998 and 2002.

The women who are not taking the medication have had continuous health insurance coverage with small prescription co-pays. It was still found that only 64 percent of them were getting the prescription filled for hormonal therapy within the first 12 months after being diagnosed. Of the few women who did start taking the medication, 20 percent stopped before the end of the very first year.

For those women who are not following the instructions of taking medications that block hormones are at a much higher risk of dying than those women who are taking the medication. As to why the women are doing this is not known for sure, but experts say that the consequences can be quite severe.