The short answer
A financial navigator helps you understand the insurance plans and cost-saving options you are eligible for. Hospital social workers, financial counselors, and billing advocates can help too. Meeting with someone like this is one way people reduce the financial strain of cancer.
A financial navigator helps you understand insurance and find cost-saving options.
Meeting with a financial navigator is being studied as a way to reduce financial strain.
Hospital social workers and financial counselors can also help with costs.
Billing advocates help with bills and insurance for a fee.
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The full explanation.
The simple version
The costs of cancer care can feel overwhelming, and insurance can be hard to understand on your own. A financial navigator is someone whose job is to help you make sense of it — which plans and cost-saving options you qualify for, and how to use them. Meeting with someone like this is one of the ways people ease the money side of cancer.
What a financial navigator does
The National Cancer Institute describes a financial navigator as someone who will teach you about the health insurance plans and cost-saving methods for treatments that you are eligible for. In its summary on financial toxicity — the money problems related to the cost of care — meeting with a financial navigator is listed among the approaches being studied to help reduce that strain.
A financial navigator helps you find the coverage and savings you qualify for.
Others who can help with costs
You may hear different job titles, and there is a lot of overlap between them:
- a hospital social worker can suggest organizations and programs beyond insurance
- a financial counselor at the hospital can explain payment options such as plans, reduced rates, and patient assistance
- patient advocates and medical billing advocates help with bills and insurance for a fee, and may save you money over time
Any of these people can be a good place to start. What matters is that you do not have to figure it all out alone.
Why it can help
Understanding your insurance and cost-saving options can make a real difference. Knowing which plans and programs you qualify for may lower what you pay out of pocket and reduce the worry that comes with unexpected bills.
How to find this help
The simplest first step is to ask. You can ask your care team, a hospital social worker, or the billing office whether a financial navigator or financial counselor is available where you receive care. If one is not, they can often point you to similar help.
Asking one person for help often opens the door to several kinds of support.
Come prepared
If you meet with a financial navigator or a benefits coordinator, it helps to have your insurance policy on hand and a sense of the treatments your doctor has recommended. That way, the conversation can focus on which plans and cost-saving options fit your situation.
Bigger changes being studied
Meeting with a financial navigator is one of several ideas the National Cancer Institute lists as ways to reduce financial toxicity. Others are broader — for example, hospitals posting their prices so patients and clinicians can weigh costs when choosing tests and treatments, moving toward pricing based on value so patients can choose higher-value options with lower out-of-pocket costs, and reforming insurance through policies that help people with cancer. You cannot control these system-wide changes, but knowing about them can show that the cost problem is widely recognized — and that asking for help is a normal response to it.
A note before we begin
This information is educational and is not a substitute for medical, legal, or financial advice. For your own situation, talk with your care team, a hospital social worker, or a financial counselor.
Reviewed sources
This article is based on public information from the National Cancer Institute:
Words to know
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Common questions
▸What does a financial navigator do?
A financial navigator helps you learn about the health insurance plans and cost-saving methods for treatments that you are eligible for. The National Cancer Institute lists meeting with a financial navigator as one approach being studied to help reduce financial toxicity — the money problems related to the cost of care.
▸How is this different from a social worker?
There is a lot of overlap. A hospital social worker can suggest programs beyond insurance, and a financial counselor at the hospital can explain payment options. A financial navigator focuses on the insurance plans and cost-saving methods you qualify for. Any of them can be a good place to start.
▸Do I have to pay for this help?
Help from hospital social workers and financial counselors is usually part of your care. Some patient advocates and medical billing advocates charge a fee, but they may save you money in the long run by helping you manage your costs.
▸How do I find a financial navigator?
Ask your care team, a hospital social worker, or the billing office whether a financial navigator or financial counselor is available where you receive care.
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