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Cancer treatment makes prescriptions free in England for five years, but a wig is not a prescription and is charged for unless you qualify for help. A third of UK survivors in one survey still reported financial difficulty, which is lower than the United States and a long way from zero.
The UK answer is that most clinical care is free at the point of use and several specific things on this front are not. Naming them is more useful than repeating that the NHS is free.
Prescriptions. The NHS Business Services Authority states that "you're entitled to a 5-year medical exemption certificate if you're undergoing any treatments for: cancer, the effects of cancer, the effects of cancer treatment", obtained through an application form from a GP. That certificate covers the effects of treatment, not only the treatment, which means medicines for neuropathic pain, bone protection, menopausal symptoms and bowel problems after treatment are covered for those five years. It is applied for rather than issued automatically, so a person who is not told does not get it. Prescriptions are already free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Wigs. These are charged for. The NHS charges in England are listed as "stock modacrylic wig - £80.15", "partial human hair wig - £212.35" and "full bespoke human hair wig - £310.55". Fabric supports are charged too: "surgical bra - £32.50" and "abdominal or spinal support - £49.05". Free provision depends on being under 16, 16 to 18 in full-time education, a hospital inpatient, a war pensioner in defined circumstances, on certain benefits, or holding an NHS HC2 certificate for full help with health costs. This is a gap people genuinely do not expect: a medical exemption certificate for cancer does not make a wig free.
What else is charged or variable. Compression garments for lymphoedema are prescribable, but the service that fits and reviews them is commissioned locally and is not available everywhere. Scalp cooling is provided free by many NHS trusts and charged for by others; the hair facet of this front covers the device evidence. Fertility preservation for medical reasons is NHS funded in principle for people facing treatment that threatens fertility, but the detailed eligibility and storage funding rules are set locally, and we could not verify the current storage and renewal rules from the regulator's pages during this round, so none is stated here. Psychological therapy is free through NHS services where a service exists; the mind facet covers how often it does.
The costs that are not charges. Travel to appointments, parking, time off work, lost earnings of a partner who becomes a carer, and higher heating bills. The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme exists for people on qualifying benefits. In a comparative survey of 600 cancer patients and survivors using the COST measure, "thirty-four percent of UK participants faced FT which was significantly lower compared to the USA/US at 55% (crude OR = 2.44, 95% CI 1.73-3.42)", and in the UK higher income and being retired reduced the risk while age and sex did not. A third of people in a universal system still reporting financial difficulty is the number to hold on to.
What we could not verify. The current NHS prescription charge per item and the prepayment certificate prices, which matter to anybody whose five-year exemption has expired, and the devolved nations' wig charges. The pages holding them were not reachable in this round and no figure is invented in their place.
A universal system removes the price of treatment and leaves the price of everything around it. The exemptions that exist are opt-in and must be applied for, so they reach the people who are told about them, which is why financial difficulty persists at a third of survivors in a system with no treatment charges at all.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"What recovery costs in the UK, and what it does not" OR ABSTRACT:"What recovery costs in the UK, and what it does not") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about What recovery costs in the UK, and what it does not, not a curated reading list.
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