Prohibitive Cancer Care Costs
Cancer care is very expensive and is set to become more so in the next five years when new drugs which are currently undergoing rigorous testing will be available. This is a problem not just for the NHS but also for the private health insurance companies.
Only three health insurance companies offer comprehensive cover for cancer: Bupa, PruHealth and Exeter Friendly Society. All these companies offer palliative care as part of their insurance cover.
Professor Karol Sikora, medical director at Cancer-PartnersUK said:
'Insurers, and the NHS, do face the problem that the cost of cancer care is going to explode in the next five years.
'There are 40 drugs ready to be licensed plus other new treatments. But they also know that cancer is the main reason people keep buying their cover, so they must tell them upfront what is and isn't covered.
'I've had two patients in the past year who have suddenly been faced with their medical insurer stopping funding treatment. Luckily, I was able to convince the insurers to continue cover.'
The problem arises because health insurance is designed to cover acute health problems where the patient can be treated and then sent home with a clean bill of health. Any recurrent chronic illness is not covered. There are many cancers which respond quickly to treatment but the grey area arises when a person becomes terminally ill. In this situation medical treatment can only prolong life, not save it and on the whole this is not something that is covered on an insurance policy. In some cases cancer can be treated and then re-occur and not all policies cover for this.
The NHS has had similar problems with very expensive drugs which are designed to prolong life. Herceptin and Avastin, for example slow cancer down but they are vastly expensive and not all NHS Trusts offer it to their patients. This has caused a consumer uproar with patients demanding to be treated with these drugs.
In order to provide consumers with accurate information medical insurance companies need to be very clear what they do and do not provide. Policy documents can be difficult to understand so the onus must be on the insurance companies to make their cancer policies clear. However unless consumers are prepared to pay higher premiums for excellent cancer cover then they are unlikely to receive the kind of care that they desire.
Only three health insurance companies offer comprehensive cover for cancer: Bupa, PruHealth and Exeter Friendly Society. All these companies offer palliative care as part of their insurance cover.
Professor Karol Sikora, medical director at Cancer-PartnersUK said:
'Insurers, and the NHS, do face the problem that the cost of cancer care is going to explode in the next five years.
'There are 40 drugs ready to be licensed plus other new treatments. But they also know that cancer is the main reason people keep buying their cover, so they must tell them upfront what is and isn't covered.
'I've had two patients in the past year who have suddenly been faced with their medical insurer stopping funding treatment. Luckily, I was able to convince the insurers to continue cover.'
The problem arises because health insurance is designed to cover acute health problems where the patient can be treated and then sent home with a clean bill of health. Any recurrent chronic illness is not covered. There are many cancers which respond quickly to treatment but the grey area arises when a person becomes terminally ill. In this situation medical treatment can only prolong life, not save it and on the whole this is not something that is covered on an insurance policy. In some cases cancer can be treated and then re-occur and not all policies cover for this.
The NHS has had similar problems with very expensive drugs which are designed to prolong life. Herceptin and Avastin, for example slow cancer down but they are vastly expensive and not all NHS Trusts offer it to their patients. This has caused a consumer uproar with patients demanding to be treated with these drugs.
In order to provide consumers with accurate information medical insurance companies need to be very clear what they do and do not provide. Policy documents can be difficult to understand so the onus must be on the insurance companies to make their cancer policies clear. However unless consumers are prepared to pay higher premiums for excellent cancer cover then they are unlikely to receive the kind of care that they desire.
Labels: health insurance, medical insurance, medical insurer, private health insurance
posted by Insurance News at
10:17 AM
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