Insurance sector expects more cancer claims
THE INSURANCE industry could see a larger number of cancer claims over the next year as people become more comfortable visiting medical facilities again for these delayed checks and receive their diagnosis, according to the Liberty Group’s chief medical officer, Dr Dominique Stott.
She said that owing to the delays, for some the diagnosis of a more severe stage of cancer was inevitable which would exponentially impact the survival rate and the cost of treatment.
“Even with a medical aid, there are so many other costs associated with cancer treatment, both medical and lifestyle related, especially if the disease isn’t caught early enough,” said Stott.
Earlier this year, Liberty's 2020 Claim Statistics revealed that cancer and leukaemia made up 27 percent of all claims that year.
However, it has been theorised that these numbers were not reflective of the actual number of potential cancer patients, with health industry experts suspecting that the national lockdown and anxiety over contracting Covid-19 had meant that people have postponed the check-ups that could have identified these critical illnesses.
Over the next decade, the sheer burden of cancer in South Africa is estimated to double to at least 160000 cases a year. Liberty said this was a sobering number from civil society organisation the Cancer Alliance, whose leadership believes the country will only be able to manage this number of cases through improved government budgeting, planning and helping patients understand the multiple hidden costs of a cancer diagnosis.
According to Liberty, the insurance industry believed there were multiple solutions to address these widening gaps, though usually the best option is critical illness cover.
Liberty’s Lifestyle Protector lead specialist Kresantha Pillay said the purpose of critical illness cover was to help cover these additional, unexpected costs. One needed to have an in-depth conversation with a financial adviser to help determine how much cover was needed to maintain a similar lifestyle pre- and post-diagnosis.
The insurer, however, said the best cost-saver was preventative action.
In South Africa some of the most common cancers are breast and cervical cancer among women and colorectal and prostate cancer among men.
These forms of cancer are easily detectable if people get regular checkups. These don’t require invasive procedures; most are simply blood tests or stool samples that aren’t too costly.
“From around the age of 45, women should be receiving yearly mammograms, and for men it’s ideal that from around age 65 they perform annual prostate checks,” said Stott.