The HealthWell Foundation®, an independent non-profit that provides a financial lifeline for inadequately insured Americans, has announced it has opened a new fund to provide financial assistance to Medicare patients suffering from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Through the fund, HealthWell will provide grants up to $10,000 to assist RCC patients with copayments and premiums. Patients who are on Medicare and have annual household incomes up to 500% of the federal poverty level are eligible for the fund.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. About 30 percent of people who are diagnosed with RCC develop advanced (metastatic) disease, in which the cancer spreads to other parts of the body— most often the bones or lungs. Kidney cancer is usually treated with a combination of nephrectomy (surgical removal of all or part of the kidney), radiation therapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Kidney cancer can often be cured if found and treated before it has spread.