All That Is To Know About Cancer Insurance

We all know that cancer has a high chance of cure if diagnosed early and treated appropriately. Only a handful of people bought cancer insurance plan to provide financial support at the time of unforeseen medical emergencies. The cost of cancer treatment is expensive. While buying cancer plan one must consider inflation to bear the cost of treatment and must opt for a minimum sum insured of Rs 15 lakh.

For an average Indian household, this is a huge expense and most families do not have funds readily available. They typically end up tapping into their savings or borrowing money to meet the treatment and peripheral expenses like travelling, post treatment care and more. In many cases, cancer can also lead to loss of income. 

Subhrajit Mukhopadhyay, Chief and Appointed Actuary, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, anticipated, “If an individual is only looking to cover the cost of cancer treatment, at least opt for Rs 15 lakh sum insured. However, this will suffice only today’s cost of treatment. Most people buy this plan for longer duration as one can avail the cancer cover till age 80. So, if you adjust this cost with inflation of 5% over 20-25 years, the future cost of treatment can go up to Rs 40-50 lakh.”

When it comes to choosing the sum insured always anticipate the cost of treatment and based on that pay the premium. For instance, a 30 year old non-smoker male can get cancer insurance plan for Rs 15 lakh sum insured for a premium amount of Rs 1,500-7,800. The maximum age coverage varies from insurer to insurer and few offer up to 51 years and 80 years of age respectively.

On the other hand, it is important to know what covers under the policy and available features. Features like covers all stages of cancer, compensation on every stage, premium waived for three years on diagnosis of minor stage, multiple unrelated cancers can be claimed, minor life covered, inbuilt term insurance cover and monthly income payable as recuperation benefit are few to mention. More features come with higher premium rate. However, the choice depends purely on insured according to the requirements.  

Subhrajit said, “The chance of getting a cancer cover for a cancer survivor is very low. It depends on type of cancer, extent of the impact and how old the initial diagnosis and treatment was. A thorough underwriting process helps evaluate if a cancer cover can be provided in such instance. Every case is different and thereby the possibility of getting cancer cover for a cancer survivor depends from case to case.”

Take your time to understand the policy wordings as health insurance terms and conditions are quite tricky. Do not hesitate to ask and clear the doubts else you might not meet the expectations at all. With more than 100 type of cancer now prevalent, it is important to know what is covered under the plan. Most of the insurance offer covers lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, stomach cancer, prostrate cancer, hypopharyngeal cancer and brain tumour.