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Medicare patients, however, are at a disadvantage because there is no cap for out-of-pocket expenses. They "are paying copayments or coinsurance forever," Dr. Newcomer explained.

"What we are already seeing is that patients who are on Medicare are coming to hospital settings; they are not being treated at their doctor's office or their infusion center because the doctors can't afford to do it," said Dr. Swain. The doctors would actually lose money on this, so the patients are coming to a higher-priced facility — a hospital — to get their infusion, she explained. "I think it is really going to have an effect, not on the patients but on the economy in general," she added.

The decline in Medicaid budgets has added challenges to medication access for recipients of this program.

A study by Avalere Health found that up to 90 percent of ObamaCare plans will force cancer patients to cover half the cost of new drugs until they hit the out-of-pocket maximum. By comparison, only 29 percent of non-ObamaCare employer-based plans do so.

On average, ObamaCare plans cover only 10 targeted therapies, and insurers don’t have to add new breakthroughs until 2016.

The low profit margins have forced insurers to downsize the number of doctors and hospitals in their networks — and to slash what they cover for out-of-network treatment.