The aim of the article is the analysis of cancer spending in Poland, which accounted to PLN 6.3 billion in 2011. It will be shown that the share of healthcare spending for cancer care is about the same as in other countries however the structure of spending is much different e.g. excessive inpatient hospitalisation in chemotherapy, radiotherapy and for diagnosis accounts for PLN 1.3 billion or 22% of total cancer spending. This is the result of economically rational and driven by the current modalities of healthcare service financing in Poland of health providers’ behaviour. At the same time it is a huge window of opportunity to restructure the financing mechanism for oncology in Poland. At the end of article we present how the planned reform of oncological care in Poland will change the economic incentives for providers and the expected results of it.
