Cancer Insurance cover will pay you a lump sum if you are diagnosed with certain kinds of cancer, and in some cases there is also cover for gender specific cancers.
We are fortunate in New Zealand to have such a free medical system, but that does not mean it is perfect with all the funding it needs. With an ageing population it may be fair to say that there is going to be more strain on funding for medical services as our population gets older.
A headline in the New Zealand herald online on 21st December 2020 was as follows;
Pharmac stoush: ‘I cannot believe people are not being given this drug’
The article was talking about cancer treatment being available in 52 other countries but not funded here in New Zealand, and that people were getting into debt to pay for such treatment.
“Meanwhile, patients are going into debt to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the drug Cetuximab, which can extend their lives by months or even years”
Cancer Insurance also known has Trauma Cover or Critical Care Cover and a few variation of names will pay a lump sum when diagnosed with certain kinds of cancer. In the article being referred to in the NZ Herald was about Bowel Cancer or which is a condition covered under Cancer Cover so a lump sum would have been paid to the insured person, which in turn they could use to buy Cetuximab.
In a specific case in the New Zealand herald which you can read here is that some people are getting into massive debt to get the money they need, which is simply not right.
“When someone sort of says to you there’s an option and you’ve got no other option, you’ve just got to find the money. And we’ve just had to find the money, so we did – we borrowed money off our house, so we’ve had to use our mortgage.
Cancer Insurance is not medical insurance
This type of insurance is a lump sum payment when the insured person contracts one of the covered conditions. Unlike medical/health insurance which covers the cost of private hospital treatment. The two products are completely different but work together very effectively and cancer insurance can be purchased in additional to private medical insurance.
The insured amount is paid out as one lump sum to the policy owner to use the funds for what ever they want to.
How affordable is this Cancer Cover
The premiums depend on a few criteria such as Age, Gender, Smoking Status and current health at the time you take the insurance out. You can buy it in additional to other products like Life Insurance or you could buy it as an advance on your life insurance.
Get the right advice
When it comes to getting the funding you need and the medical treatment you need, it may come down to you and allowing for these events when planning for financial risks that could devastate your finances. Please contact us for advice and we can talk to you about what options are available to you, so you can decide whether getting such cover is the right move for you.
