The federal funding freeze is inciting fear and chaos for millions with cancer. There's a better way

Yahoo

25-02-2025

A young mother diagnosed with cancer is forced to perform a never-ending juggling act: getting her children to and from their school programs, being on time for her chemotherapy appointments, and navigating severely tight finances due to her expensive treatment and medications. She's doing all of this while feeling physically drained and anxious about her health, imagining what would happen to her family if the worst-case scenario occurred.
This is the everyday lived experience for oncology patients, one of our most vulnerable populations that needs protection from any additional chaos and uncertainty in their lives so they can focus on recovery. Yet 2025's federal funding freeze, which threatens to undermine America's health-care safety net, could directly impact many of the 18 million people with cancer in the U.S., a number expected to increase by 44% as soon as 2040.
While it's unclear exactly which programs will lose federal aid, even the possibility that resources that support cancer patients could disappear is troubling. Programs that rely on federal funding, such as financial assistance for medication or free transportation to a doctor's office, help ensure that cancer patients' needs don't go unmet and aid in their access to life-saving and life-prolonging treatment.
At Thyme Care, a cancer care technology company, we're witnessing firsthand the chaos and confusion patients are feeling right now. As the senior medical director and director of social work, we hear their concerns daily. Our team supports thousands of patients nationwide, and many depend on governmental assistance for medications, transportation, and nutrition. Over the past four weeks, our phones haven't stopped ringing, with panicked patients asking, 'Will I lose financial assistance for my medication?' 'Do I still have access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?' 'Who will help me navigate this?'
While our frontline nurses and community health workers attempt to manage patients' fear and uncertainty, they lack clear answers about which programs will be impacted by the funding freeze. Uncertainty for people with cancer can create a disturbing equation: delayed care, missed appointments, and further financial and emotional strain that results in worse health outcomes.
Oncology patients deserve clear communication about which programs will be impacted by the funding freeze, and, more importantly, they deserve to maintain access to the resources they need to manage their cancer care.
A cancer diagnosis already devastates finances, with some patients spending more than 20% of their income and others facing out-of-pocket costs of $10,000 to $15,000 annually for just one drug. Many rely on federally aided resources, including state-funded programs that are supported by federal funds, to navigate cancer's financial toxicity, such as financial assistance for prescriptions and other basic needs, supplemental income if they need to take work off for treatment, and home-delivered meals if they're homebound and recovering from surgery. When one domino falls for a patient living with cancer (or any other life-altering condition)—even if it just threatens to fall, like the potential funding freeze on these programs—it can easily create needless emotional and physical distress.
Whether you receive the diagnosis or your family member or friend does, cancer touches communities across the nation—yet profound disparities exist. The American Cancer Society projects an estimated 5,600 new diagnoses each day and more than 600,000 deaths this year. Cancer rates are also rising in our younger populations; by 2030, early-onset cancers in those diagnosed before age 50 will likely see a 30% increase. Native Americans and Black Americans suffer mortality rates 2-3 times higher for certain cancer types than White Americans.
For people with cancer, the funding freeze could create impossible choices, such as:
Ration doses until they can afford a refill.
Choose between groceries or a ride to the clinic for chemotherapy.
Miss work for treatment and lose insurance benefits, or miss an appointment to maintain financial stability for their family.
Our marginalized populations will feel the impact first: women, people with disabilities, people of color, and low-income families. These communities are at greatest risk as they typically receive a high level of support from federally funded programs. If they lose access to support, they'll be forced to skip or delay treatment, resulting in sicker patients and higher reliance on expensive emergency care later on. This would also further extend the health equity divide felt by these groups.
These aren't hypothetical scenarios; they're conversations we're having daily with real people across America. Even middle and upper-middle-class families turn to these services when they're hit by the financial devastation that comes with a cancer diagnosis. We work directly with thousands of these centers nationwide at Thyme Care to help patients meet their practical, everyday needs. Without federal aid, access to life-saving programs will drastically decline, and the care continuum will be jeopardized.
Health care doesn't exist in isolation. When a patient loses childcare assistance from programs like TANF, CHIP, and Head Start, a caregiver will be forced to leave their job, creating financial instability precisely when stability matters most. This kickstarts the cycle of increased unemployment, fewer jobs, and less spending, which leads to an economic slowdown, adding to the estimated $122 billion a year our economy is already losing due to parents missing work or leaving their jobs because of inadequate childcare.
Patients aren't the only ones who will feel the economic impact. If care is delayed, physicians will see an uptick in resources needed to treat more complex cases, yet they'll likely be working with less money, less staff, and less capacity. Patients won't be able to cover their bills, so health systems will need to absorb them. At-risk rural hospitals, which already lost federal pandemic assistance grants and now only qualify for federal assistance if they eliminate inpatient services, will be one step closer to shutting down. Insurers will also see higher premiums as health systems will need to raise costs.
If the potential fallout from a federal funding freeze seems apocalyptic, it's because it could be. But regardless of which side of the political aisle you stand on, we can all agree that access to care for people with cancer is important. Before dismantling any one program, we must evaluate how each federally aided program serves vulnerable populations and strengthens our health care and economic infrastructure. Revisiting initiatives together as health, community, and policy experts, and then determining how to best use federal funds to support patients, would provide a path forward that doesn't incite chaos, fear, and confusion.
Meanwhile, while we wait for clarity and direction on the potential funding freeze, we urge anyone feeling overwhelmed to seek information from trusted sources—your doctor, pharmacist, insurer, or even your care navigator or social worker. At Thyme Care, we continue to proactively conduct outreach calls to our patients, helping them navigate this tumultuous time and connecting them to whatever community resources remain available.
At the same time, we're taking solace in knowing that people, communities, and organizations always find a way to come together to ensure the vulnerable and powerless are cared for despite seemingly insurmountable barriers. People with cancer deserve nothing less than our most determined effort to preserve the systems that support their care.
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com