Catastrophic illness

A catastrophic illness is a severe illness requiring prolonged hospitalization or recovery. Examples would include coma,^[1] cancer, leukemia, heart attack or stroke. These illnesses usually involve high costs for hospitals, doctors and medicines and may incapacitate the person from working, creating a financial hardship. They are the type intended to be covered by high-deductible health plans. Research indicates that the unusual economic environment of the delivery of catastrophic illness care encourages the use of innovative therapies.^[2] Medicare contains a benefit for catastrophic illness.^[3]

References

1. MR Gillick, NA Serrell, LS Gillick (1982), Adverse consequences of hospitalization in the elderly, Social Science & Medicine
2. Warner, Kenneth E. (January 1977), Treatment Decision Making in Catastrophic Illness XV (1), Medical Care, JSTOR 3763281
3. John K. Iglehart (March 2001), Medicare's New Benefits: "Catastrophic" Health Insurance 10 (4), Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics, pp. 213–228