Cancer support services can be of great help to patients and their families throughout the cancer journey, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond into post-treatment care. Support services include financial relief, material needs such as those related to living, travel or medicinal expenses, and psychological care to address distress and worry.
A key to alleviating financial distress is to offer services that will address fundamental needs to ease the burden of financial worry. This support will allow patients to focus on achieving wellness without the extra anxiety of covering all the direct and indirect costs of treatment.
Material needs can encompass basic living expenses such as mortgage or rent payments, car payments, car insurance, meals, lodging, parking, or utilities. These health-related social needs are a critical issue that can cause delays in medical care, missed appointments, treatment nonadherence, and interruptions in a personalized treatment.
Psychosocial care is critical in improving quality of life by helping patients cope with the emotional, mental, and spiritual anguish that can come with cancer and its treatment.
The updated 9th Annual Patient Guide to Cancer Support Services 2025 provides essential information to help find cancer support services that are available right now. This guide, brought to you by Conquer magazine, organizes the support services based on the form of cancer and the drugs that treat it; the guide also has a section listing nonprofit organizations and government assistance programs.
To get started, ask in the clinic if financial staff or navigators are available to help find needed support. In addition, inquire if there are local resources for financial care. Then use the contact information contained in the guide that applies to your treatment to find available assistance programs. If your center does not employ financial advocates or navigators, please show other staff this guide and ask for help in applying for support. As contact is made with the relevant programs, forms filled out by your healthcare team may be needed. Do not hesitate to ask for help with the forms. Remember, this guide was created to help lessen the heavy financial burdens of your cancer care, so that you can get the treatment you need with one less thing to worry about.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This guide is based on information posted online by the respective drug companies as of December 3, 2024. Every effort has been made to verify that the information is up to date. Any updates, including new indications or drugs approved after that date, will not appear in this publication. The Publisher and the Editors are not responsible for any inaccuracies stemming from such changes or changes to the support services subsequently made. Readers are advised to review the information online, using the web address provided for each drug for any updates and revisions.