Insurance is very important when you're on a clinical trial. The company pays for their drug, doctor's appointments, and maybe a couple of other things. I also get $50 every time I show up.

You and your insurance company pay for labs, scans, infusions, possibly chemo drugs, and for any hospitalizations that result from drug side effects. Two weeks into a clinical trial that I started last summer, I landed in the hospital for 4 days with neutropenic fever. I got a big bill, and the insurance company got a bigger bill. And that was at an in-network hospital.

Traditional Medicare is great for participating in non-local clinical trials. But if you're too young, you need to have out-of-network coverage AND have a decent amount of cash that you're willing to put into it.