PORTLAND, Ore. -- Ann Bisgyer, 53, knows a thing or two about cancer. She was diagnosed in 1993, when there was a tumor on her breast.

“You don’t know what to feel.” She said. “You are in a haze.”

Ann started a rigorous regimen of chemotherapy. She lost her hair, her eyebrows, and sadly to her vanity, her eyelashes.

“I can deal with no hair, but no eyelashes? “ She said.

But when she left her corporate position to go in business for herself, she never imagined how the insurance industry would react.

“Everyone turned me down.” She said. “Blue Cross, Blue Shield, all of them, they turned me down. They told me to call them in a few years.”

But when her cancer returned in 2001, she was desperate. She found the Oregon Health Plan had a high risk pool and fortunately she qualified.

“My chemotherapy in a pill costs $1,200. Even if you have insurance with a 20 percent copay, that’s a lot of money.”

According to a new study from Thomson Reuters, 1 out of every 8 cancer patients isn’t taking their recommended care because of cost.

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“We’re seeing this more and more with Medicare.” Said Oncologist Dr. Kevin Olsen, of the Northwest Cancer Center.

“Many of these cancer plans offer a 10 to 20 percent co-pay. That can add up quickly, especially if you’re not able to work or you’re on a fixed income.”

Bisgyer owns her own business and feels the current state of affairs gives cancer victims an unfair choice.

“For a family to choose between medications and putting food on the table, that’s wrong.”

She knows she will likely die of her disease. She says if she wasn’t battling cancer, she’d battle the insurance industry, to give care to those who need it.

“It’s not fair that anyone has to deal with this illness and has to make these decisions.”