. I always bring up cancer insurance to my clients now. I didn’t use to in the past, because hey, I am a human being, and like most people out there, I don’t want to talk about cancer any more than you do. Cancer isn’t comfortable for me to bring up and certainly isn’t fun. Cancer is something we all have in the back of our mind, and we all know someone or a family member that has been diagnosed with cancer, and cancer doesn’t discriminate.
Cancer insurance can help you manage medical plan deductibles, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses; as well as non-medical costs such as transportation to treatment locations. The spending plan will cover everything from food, and other daily living costs to major purchases such as a car or house.
It seems like every day we hear about a new cancer diagnosis from someone we know. While treatments for the disease are improving all the time, it’s still a very real threat to our health. So should you invest in cancer insurance? That’s a question that many people are asking these days. We’ll take a look at what cancer insurance is, how it works, and whether or not it might be a good option for you. Stay tuned!
What are the Rates of Cancer for Both Males and Females?
The American Cancer Society says 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get cancer in their lifetime. Those aren’t my stats; that’s from the American Cancer Society. I don’t particularly appreciate talking about cancer, and I’m still uncomfortable bringing it up, but this is my job as a professional insurance broker. I force myself now to do it because, in the past, one of my clients came down with cancer and called me. He called hopping mad at me or quite frankly pissed off, and rightfully so. Not because he didn’t have a great Medicare policy that paid all the bills, but because I never mentioned that it was an option to him. He was diagnosed with cancer and found out that his Medicare or Medicare Supplement did not cover any indirect costs associated with cancer.
What are the Costs of Cancer?
Here are some of the indirect costs of cancer the medicare insurance will not cover. These are from a publication from the American Cancer Society and I will provide a link so you can download the publication. Some of the indirect costs it lists are:
- lodging and transportation when traveling to a cancer treatment facility
- Maybe joblessness or there can be underemployment
You might say, “I’m retired. I don’t have to worry about that.”
- Many times sons or daughters will want to take time off work to help care for you and they may have a job where they will not be paid while they are away. . .
These are just a couple. If you give it a little thought, you can come up with an infinite amount of costs associated with cancer and are not medical related and will not be covered by your medical insurance or Medicare coverage.
Do Insurance Companies Pay for Experimental Treatments?
Other costs that will not be paid by medical or Medicare are experimental medical treatments or experimental drugs. Even if you have a good Part D plan with Medicare, which almost all of my clients have, experimental drugs are not covered, and many oral chemotherapy drugs covered come with extremely high copays. If you know Part D Medicare drug plans, you know they have different tier costs. And your cancer drugs are likely to appear in the highest cost-sharing tiers. Usually, the tiers where the copay isn’t fixed are generally 25 or 33%. If you need these types of drugs, you must enter the coverage gap, also called the donut hole, and your drug costs can really increase.
Why Cancer Insurance is Important?
Here is an article from NPR, and the title is As Drug Costs Soar, People Delay Or Skip Cancer Treatments. I won’t break down the article, but you can probably figure out where it’s going. I have provided a link to the article in the description of this video if you would like to read it.
Customer’s Testimonial
Her name is Virginia M. And by the way, when she was diagnosed with cancer, she had a Medicare Supplement Plan F that paid all the deductibles, copays, and coinsurance Medicare Part A and Part B didn’t pay. She said, “When I was diagnosed with Cervical cancer 3 years ago, I knew the medical bills would be covered. However, the treatment (Chemotherapy and radiation for 8 weeks) was at a cancer center 180 miles from home.
That’s when I found out how valuable my cancer insurance proved to be. The motel bill for two months, the travel expenses, eating out, even someone to take care of the house while we were gone were all taken care of with the funds we received from the cancer insurance policy. Our daughter took time off work to be with me, and we could cover her expenses too. We had the peace of mind that all the unexpected expenses were covered. It was a stressful time, but the cancer insurance sure eased the financial burden.” Again, that’s from one of our clients. Breakthroughs with research and treatment have led to more people beating cancer and living longer lives. This is great, but the fact is this means your ongoing maintenance treatments are long and expensive.
Being an independent agent I am able to view many plans from many different companies. I have already done all of the research and I know the best plans to get.
Best Cancer Insurance Plan
There are really two different types of plans. I prefer a lump sum benefit cancer insurance policy. The other has a confusing schedule of benefits. I’ll explain both when diagnosed with cancer and have the lump sum benefit. The cancer insurance policy pays you a lump sum benefit. There’s no need for hospitalization, and there’s no need for treatments to get the benefits you purchased. Let’s say you get cancer, and it doesn’t matter what type. As long as it’s internal cancer and you bought a $25,000 lump sum benefit, it pays you $25,000. Now you get to use this $25,000 on anything you see fit.
- You may want to use it to pay for prescriptions
- give cash to a family member to help take care of you
- Use it for hotel bills or airfare
- Maybe you want to use it to take a vacation
This is insurance you get to use for help while you are living. It’s paid to you with no strings attached, and it is a tax-free benefit. The Schedule of benefits is the other. There’s a schedule for each type of treatment you get.
- If you get chemotherapy? It pays you x amount of dollars for each chemo treatment up to a certain amount of treatments. It pays x amount of dollars for each day you are in the hospital if you are in the hospital and the schedule goes on and on. Then there are claims you need to make.
- You need to get your medical bills together and send them to the insurance company. The insurance company looks at the bills and then decides which treatments fall into the schedule of benefits and how much to pay. This type of cancer insurance only pays you when you get treatments.
What is Lump Sum Benefit?
With the lump sum, you take your diagnosis from your doctor, send it to the insurance company. The insurance company then pays the lump sum benefit of your policy. And you are free to do with the money as you see fit. My grandmother received her lung cancer diagnosis. She decided not to get treatment. You don’t have to spend it on treatment. You are free to spend any way you like or save money. No strings attached. When you receive a cancer diagnosis, you don’t need things to get more difficult. You want things to get easier.
- The premiums are fixed and can’t go up as you get older, this means the premium is easy to budget.
- Benefits have a guarantee to never decrease.
- Coverage will never cancel. As long as you pay the premiums. That is a guarantee..
- These plans are really more affordable than many people think.
The lump-sum benefits start at $5,000 and go all the way to $100,000, and if you smoke, we have a company that has favorable rates for smokers. In addition, if you were diagnosed with cancer in the past, depending on how long ago, we also have plans that may accept you with no increase in rates and no reduction of benefits.
Key Takeaways
- American Cancer Society statistics say 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get cancer. Our medical or Medicare insurance is going to cover everything.
- There are many incidentals insurance doesn’t cover. Hotel bills, travel, meals, paying for a son or daughter to take care of you, this list is endless.
- Even if you have great Medicare Supplement insurance there are going to be additional drug costs and your copays will likely be very high and you will reach the coverage gap also called the donut hole. People are skipping cancer treatments because of the high costs.
- In my opinion, a lump sum cancer insurance policy is the best. Premiums for this cancer insurance can’t go up as you get older. The benefits will never decrease and premiums will never increase.
- Coverage is more affordable than you think and starts with as little as $5,000 and goes all the up to $100,000. We have companies that have favorable rates to smokers or tobacco users and we also have companies that will accept you with favorable rates if you have had cancer in the past.
About The Author — Christopher Duncan
I’m Chris Duncan, owner of Trusted Benefits Direct. As your Medicare advisor, I want you to know that my business offers superior solutions for everyone. I do not work for insurance companies, which allows me to serve you at a high level without any hidden agendas or conflicts of interest. All resources are provided at no cost because people must find peace of mind when looking ahead years down the line.
As an insurance agent, it’s my goal to make your life easier. That includes the process of securing all types of coverage for you and your loved ones, including Medicare Supplements, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Final Expense life insurance services, and retirement security plans. You can reach me toll-free at 800-910-3382 or get a free quote on MedicareRateQuote.com with just a few clicks! Don’t forget that I also offer contact forms if you would like more information from trustedbenefitsdirect.com – click here now!
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