Marginal health care expenditures for melanoma care in the United States.

Background: The incidence of melanoma has increased significantly in the past few decades, posing a significant public health challenge. However, there is an evidence gap regarding the marginal costs of treating melanoma.

Objective: To examine the marginal health care expenditures for melanoma compared with other nonskin cancers among US adults.

Methods: This study examined individuals aged 18 years or older with melanoma, nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC), and other cancers from the 2011-2020 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey datasets. Direct health care expenditures involving hospital inpatient, outpatient, prescription medications, dental, vision, home health care, and other medical services for melanoma were analyzed using generalized linear models, and comparisons were made with expenditures for other types of cancers while adjusting for other patient characteristics.

Results: There were 0.70 million individuals (95% CI = 0.61-0.78) diagnosed with melanoma annually. Total health care expenditures among individuals with melanoma, NMSC, and other cancers were $19,427, $13,744, and $23,741, respectively. A generally increasing trend of expenditure was observed over the years. Notably, office-based care (30.46%), inpatient services (28.78%), and prescription (18.27%) costs primarily accounted for the health care burden of patients with melanoma. Adjusted marginal total health care expenditures for melanoma were found to be lower ($-3,369.01 [95% CI = -$5,934.15 to -$803.85]) than other cancers but higher ($2,844.75 [95% CI = $2,204.77-$3,484.72]) compared with NMSC. Prescription expenditures were similar across the 3 cancer study groups.

Conclusions: This study found that adjusted marginal expenditures for melanoma were higher than those with NMSC but lower than other nonskin cancers, with office-based care and inpatient expenditures contributing to most of the expenditures. The findings suggest that concerted efforts are needed to control the primary cost drivers to reduce the associated burden of potentially preventable skin cancer like melanoma.