Some Texas Cancer Patients Faced with High Insurance Deductibles.

Byline: Charlotte Huff

Jan. 17--William McCullough left his doctor's office last week without getting chemotherapy. He couldn't afford it.

His insurer, Secure Horizons, had raised his co-payment for a single treatment from $6 to nearly $400.

"I thought I had insurance," the Fort Worth resident said. "I don't now, really."

McCullough, 79, is among several cancer patients who recently have left without treatment, even with the option of a payment plan, said Tammy Chambers, contracting director at Texas Cancer Care.

"They are shocked," she said. "They are crying. They are saying they will just go home and die."

In recent years, Medicare managed care plans, looking to offset rising costs, have ratcheted up the amount patients pay. But Tarrant County doctors and consumer advocates say the price tag for chemotherapy and radiation under Secure Horizons, a PacifiCare-owned Medicare HMO, trumps anything they've seen before.

Texas Cancer Care and Texas Oncology P.A., two major cancer practices in Tarrant County,…