It is a good idea to contact the insurance company directly to determine whether the patient’s insurance policy will cover therapy involved in clinical trials. Some insurance companies will pay for all treatment expenses, including any added costs associated with clinical trials (if there are any). At the other extreme, insurance companies may decline to pay for any treatment considered “experimental” or therapy that is part of a clinical trial. Other policies are somewhere in between; some states have enacted legislation mandating that private insurance companies pay for treatment involved in clinical trials (see the American Cancer Society [ACS] Web site for details).
However, a patient may be responsible for the costs above and beyond what would have accrued with standard treatment. Medicare, for example, may have coverage restrictions for treatments that are part of clinical trial. Understand that the patient may be responsible for the balance. If you do run into financial roadblocks with entering a clinical trial, appeal to the insurance company and/or seek assistance from your doctor or social worker, as sometimes there is additional funding for some protocols to assist people with the added expenses.