A new report, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Cancer Society, has come up with a disturbing revelation - more than one million cancer survivors forego cancer care due to high treatment cost!

According to CBS News' medical correspondent, Dr. Jon LaPook, out of the 680,000 or so new cancer cases diagnosed last year, nearly 70 percent of patients, despite health insurance, are either debt-ridden or face the difficult choice of paying for necessities or paying for their cancer care.

The report says that most of the insured cancer patients finish up with high medical bills due to coverage gaps as well as spending limits in their insurance policies. The vicious circle of gaps keeps growing as insurers put stricter limits on spending, because of rising health care costs, and more costs are passed onto the hapless patients.

Dr. John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, remarked: "One in five cancer patients will spend virtually all their life savings to get the treatment they need!"

With increasing number of cancer survivors in the US forgoing care simply because it is not covered and they do not have enough funds for it, Drew Altman, PhD, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, opines that the "system seems to be failing most where it should be working best - and that's for people who are sick!"

Altman expects the study to ring the "alarm bells" about the problems cancer patients face! (Harkiran contributed to this report)