Adequate training is crucial in dispensing oncology drugs, a truth well understood by many retail pharmacists who surveys say are very often not comfortable handling and monitoring those particular therapies.

One other point: for families with two members who each have private insurance plans, there are industry rules to coordinate benefits which ensures plan members in that family get full reimbursement. For others, those co-pays matter: Twenty percent of $84,000 annually, every year, is big money.

This is an area that needs a lot more attention in policy and program coordination. No one in this country should have to worry about the affordability of medically necessary treatments, including take-home cancer therapies.