The short answer
Many free cancer resources are available in the U.S. The NCI's Cancer Information Service (1-800-4-CANCER) offers free, confidential help in English and Spanish. Other free programs can help with transportation, lodging, costs, and finding clinical trials.
The NCI's Cancer Information Service is free and confidential: 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
Specialists answer questions in English and Spanish, Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–9 p.m. ET.
You can also reach them by live chat or email, and there is a TTY line for deaf and hard-of-hearing callers.
Free programs can also help with transportation, lodging, costs, and finding clinical trials.
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The full explanation.
The simple version
Cancer is overwhelming, and you should not have to face it alone. You should not have to pay for information either. Many trustworthy cancer resources in the U.S. are completely free. A good first call is the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service.
The NCI Cancer Information Service — 1-800-4-CANCER
The NCI offers free, confidential help for patients, families, and providers. Specialists can answer questions about cancer, treatment, clinical trials, and quitting smoking.
- Phone: 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
- Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
- Languages: English and Spanish.
- Live chat is at livehelp.cancer.gov during those hours.
- Email: [email protected].
The Cancer Information Service is free and confidential — you can call, chat, or email.
Other free help
Depending on your needs, free programs may help with:
- Rides to and from treatment.
- A place to stay near your hospital.
- Understanding and lowering costs, and help paying for medicines.
- Finding clinical trials you may qualify for.
- Emotional support through free helplines run by national cancer nonprofits.
How to get connected
A hospital social worker or patient navigator can be one of your best guides to free resources near you. You can also call 1-800-4-CANCER to ask where to start. See our guides on transportation, lodging, and costs for more.
A note before we begin
This information is educational. It is not a substitute for medical advice. For your own care, talk with your doctor, nurse, pharmacist, registered dietitian, or care team.
Sources
Words to know
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Common questions
What is 1-800-4-CANCER?
It's the toll-free phone number for the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service. It offers free, confidential support for patients, families, and healthcare providers — including questions about cancer treatment, clinical trials, and quitting smoking.
What are the hours, and what languages?
Information Specialists are available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, in English and Spanish. You can reach them by phone, live chat, or email during those hours.
Is there a line for deaf or hard-of-hearing callers?
Yes. The toll-free TTY number is 1-800-332-8615.
What other free resources exist?
Beyond the NCI, free programs can help with rides to treatment, places to stay near a hospital, help with costs and medicines, and finding clinical trials. Many national cancer nonprofits also offer free helplines and support.
Questions to ask your doctor
Being prepared helps you get the most out of your appointments. Save or print these questions.
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Your next step
Your care team's answer depends on your treatment — ask them directly.
Speak With Trained Specialists & Human Navigators
Cancer Explained provides educational guidance, but does not replace trained specialists, social workers, or your medical team.
Talk to a trained cancer information specialist
Free, confidential assistance from NCI Cancer Information Service via phone, chat, or email.
Contact your oncology team
Locate after-hours contact numbers, portal messages, or urgent triage phone lines.
Find a patient navigator
Get one-on-one help with appointments, logistics, translation, and care coordination.
Find a genetic counselor
Discuss inherited mutation risk, family history, and genetic testing options.
Find an oncology social worker
Access emotional counseling, family support groups, and mental health resources.
Find a financial navigator
Locate copay assistance foundations, grant programs, and lodging/travel support.
Find a clinical-trial specialist
Search matching studies and speak with NCI trial information specialists.
Get urgent help
Immediate emergency guidance for fever (>100.4°F during chemo), severe pain, or shortness of breath.
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Where to get help with this, by name
A hospital social worker or financial navigator is the best first call if you have one. If you do not, these organisations help at no cost to you.
- Patient Advocate Foundation — (800) 532-5274. Case managers take on insurance appeals, denials and medical debt with you. Free.
- TotalAssist (Patient Advocate Foundation's copay programme, merged with the PAN Foundation in 2026) — 866-512-3861. Help with medication copays, coinsurance and deductibles, insurance premiums, and office-visit and administration charges on the day of treatment, across nearly 150 conditions.
- CancerCare — 800-813-HOPE (4673). Oncology social workers, free counselling and support groups. Limited financial help with transport, home care, child care and lodging for people in active treatment who meet their income guidelines — funding is first-come, first-served, so call to ask what is open.
- Triage Cancer — 424-258-4628. Free legal and financial navigation: insurance, employment rights, disability.
- Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) — (800) 955-4572. Information Specialists answer questions on treatment, insurance and financial problems.
- HealthCare.gov — 1-800-318-2596. For questions about the external review process — the independent review your insurer is required by law to accept.
Your state Department of Insurance regulates insurers and takes consumer complaints. On Medicare, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) gives free one-to-one counselling. If a specific drug is the problem, ask the manufacturer about its patient assistance programme.
Phone numbers checked 31 July 2026. Programmes and eligibility change — if a number has moved, please tell us.
Plain-language explanation of the published sources cited on this page. AI-assisted, source-checked, not clinician-reviewed.
Last updated: 2026-08-11Next planned review: 2027-07-07
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes. We do not employ clinicians and do not intend to — our work is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status — Source checked. This page was written with AI assistance and checked line by line against the sources listed on it. That confirms the sources support what the page says. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
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Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes. We do not employ clinicians and do not intend to — our work is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and checked line by line against the sources listed on it. That confirms the sources support what the page says. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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