There is also a huge disparity based on ability to pay. When diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, even a middle class family can easily be thrown into financial difficulty due to the cost of treatments and inability for the patient or caregiver to work. We (the Musella Foundation) gets calls every day from people who can not afford their treatments. Even my own dad refused to buy his Temodar when he realized he would never work again and he might die anyway so he didn't want to use up his savings and leave my mom broke.
That is why we set up the brain tumor copayment assistance program. To help remove the inequities in treatments due to ability to pay. So far we were able to help over 1,600 patients pay for their medicine. In many of these cases they would not have been able to get their medications without our help. Unfortunately the program is out of funding right now and closed to new patients. We still get a lot of calls for help but can not help them right now.