Buy fixed-benefit cancer plan to meet high ancillary costs

Cancer patients with no health insurance should purchase an indemnity-based plan

- SANJAY KUMAR SINGH KARTHIK JEROME

According to National Cancer Registry published by the Indian Council of Medical Research, 1.46 trillion new cancer cases occurred in India in 2022. The incidence of cancer is higher in urban, especially metropolitan, areas due to lifestyle changes, pollution, and so on.

With February 4 (observed as World Cancer Day) having just gone by, let us look at how you can insure yourself against this dreaded disease.

A high-cost ailment

When a person contracts cancer, he or she faces two issues. One, the cost of treating the disease is very high. And two, the ancillary costs that arise also tend to be high. The patient might not be able to do business or may lose his job because of prolonged illness.

Those living in smaller towns often have to travel to the metros to get the best treatment. Treatment costs tend to be higher there. An attendant or two has to travel with them.

Two covers needed

To deal with these problems, a person needs insurance solutions on two fronts. "One, the sum insured on your base-indemnity policy (the normal health insurance cover where you are reimbursed for the treatment cost incurred) should be high. Alternatively, the policy should come with a feature like reassure (also called restore or refill), where the sum insured gets replenished an unlimited number of times when it is exhausted," says Bhabatosh Mishra, direct-or-underwriting, products and claims, Niva Bupa Health Insurance.

In the case of cancer, surgery may be followed by chemotherapy or radiotherapy sessions that give rise to small- or mid-sized claims repetitively over a considerable period.