Do I need a "CANCER INSURANCE" - Find out why

Why you should consider a cancer insurance policy?

"You been diagnosed with cancer."
 Nobody would want this even in their worst dreams. The fact, however, is that today's lifestyle has increased the chances of getting cancer. Worse, there are over a 100 types of cancers and any part of the body can be affected. Further, anyone can fall victim to this deadly disease.

In fact, a recent study conducted in Britain by the British Journal of Cancer finds that the lifetime risk of getting diagnosed with cancer has increased over time - from 38.5% for men born in 1930 to 53.5% for men born in 1960. The study concluded that the lifetime risk of cancer for people born since 1960 is greater than 50 per cent now.

In India alone, about 10 lakh people are diagnosed with cancer every year and another six to seven lakh die of it. By 2035, these numbers may almost double to 17 lakh new patients and 12 lakh deaths per annum, according to a special research paper on cancer in India published in Lancet Oncology journal sometime ago.

Moreover, while the probability of getting cancer has increased substantially, the cost of treatment has also gone up many-fold in recent years. In fact, treatment costs now have the potential to wipe out a common man's entire life saving. Worse, the cost of treating cancer abroad can be several times that incurred in India, according to a Times of India report.

This is the reason why comprehensive medical insurance against cancer has become the need of the hour. Although most health insurance policies available in the market today cover almost all major critical illnesses, including cancer, but these policies generally pay only for inpatient hospitalization and for treatment at hospitals in India. They do not cover the entire cost of treatment. Also, the policy amount may not be enough as the common man generally does not go for a health policy of more than Rs 5 lakh. Such limitations may be overcome by opting for critical illness (CI) insurance which is designed to help cover medical expenses that your normal health insurance will not cover.

How to buy your right insurance policy?

Yoddhas is a Cancer support NGO (Regt with 80G,12A) Not-for-profit support community formed by patients and volunteers. It is India’s First Online Support Network for patients. It was started in 2013 by 28 year old patient, Rahul Yadav fighting Multiple- Myeloma a rare form of blood cancer.

We at Yoddhas are working to find various Cancer related insurances policies so that one can pre-emtively  insure and safeguard from the financial needs of cancer treatment.

While we tried studying various insurance policy, we explored various different policies which are active right now and being availed by the public. We also referred to many online websites like PolicyBazar.com and insurancepandit.com to do our comparative studies.

We compared many available policies in India to find out which ones would be best suited for Cancer related cover. Based on our studies these are the four insurance policies where we got a good feedback from the people and we enquired from other patients and people who have either been using or have knowledge about such policies. 

	ICICI Cancer Care Plus	National Insurance+ CPAA Cancer Insurance Policy	National Insurance+ ICS Cancer Insurance Policy	Religare Health Insurance
Eligibility	For anyone aged between 20 and 60 yrs who is not suffering from pre-existing cancer	For members of Cancer Patients Aid Association who are not suffering from pre-existing cancer	For members of Indian Cancer Society who are not suffering from pre-existing cancer	For anyone aged between 20 and 60 yrs who is not suffering from pre-existing cancer
Entry-Exit Age	20 yrs – 60 yrs (renewable up to 70 yrs)	Not given	Up to 70 yrs	20 yrs – 60 yrs (renewable up to 70 yrs)
Sum Assured	Rs 5,00,000 – 25,00,000	Rs 30,000 – 5,00,000	Rs 50,000 or Rs 2,00,000	Rs 15,00,000 – 50,00,000
Policy Term	10 yrs	1 yr	1 yr	1 yr
Premium	For a typical 10 lakh cover -4,604 to 8,945 (for men) 8,602 to 14,845 (for women)Minimum single premium - 1,200 per annum	2,400 to 8,000	Rs 496 (for 50,000 cover) Rs 1,157 (for 2,00,000 cover)	Rs 6482 to 9982(for men and women)
Waiting Periods	For Early Cancer - 12 months from the risk commencement date For Advanced Cancer - 6 months from the risk commencement date Should be able to survive for 28 days from the date of diagnosis	Should be able to survive for 30 days from the date of diagnosis	Should be able to survive for 30 days from the date of diagnosis	Should be able to survive for 30 days from the date of diagnosis

Conclusion

Firstly its always good to be planned for whatever happens. After studying the given policies and as Yoddhas Research Team our feedback is general we can state that the Indian Cancer Society’s policy is very cheap and easily available. Also the maturity amount is not big enough as we know the cost of cancer treatment is high but still the return is much higher if we compare with the premium paid. So as per our research all people should get insured under this policy.

For some selective people who have higher risk of cancer in their family should go for the higher premium policy because of the cost of the cancer treatment. They should get insured under ICICI Cancer care plus Or Religare Health insurance.

Please Note: This is a basic study based on patients and public feedback and secondary data from the various sources. We are not in any manner promoting any particular thing over another. Please do your research to make an informed decision.

Co-Authored By:

Rohit Banka 

Research and HR Consultant

Rahul Yadav 

Founder- Yoddhas and a Blood Cancer Fighter

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References:

www.policybazar.com

www.insurancepandit.com

www.indiancancersociety.org

http://www.cpaaindia.org/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/yoddhathewarrior/ (Yoddhas Patient Group)