Cancer is rising among younger people and it’s driving higher claims in the protection industry, the Women in Protection conference heard.
More than 40% of payments across life, critical illness and income protection are for cancer, said Mark Stephenson, chief executive of Reframe Cancer, who chaired a discussion called From risk to reality: reframing the cancer conversation.
Sitting on the panel was Dr Seema Dadhania, a consultant clinical oncologist specialising in brain tumours and lung cancer.
She said that there were 250,000 annual cases of cancer 40 years ago, which is expected to double by 2038.
“Cancer incidence is rising, but what is particularly interesting is that cancer incidence in young people is rising,” Dr Dadhania added.
“We are talking about people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, not just 70s and 80s.”
Indeed, cancer rates for the under 50s increased by almost a quarter (24%) between 1995 and 2019, according to Cancer Research UK.
Changing the narrative
With diagnosis growing, the protection industry is facing a rising need to fund costly treatments and care.
Also sitting on the panel was Emily Jones, head of workplace wellbeing at Broadstone, who is seeing more income protection claims for cancer and, therefore, higher premiums.
“The only way we are going to change that narrative is to look at prevention solutions earlier,” she added.
Dr Dadhania highlighted the importance of education. “Understanding the risks of cancer and what we can do to prevent cancer will genuinely save lives.
“One in two people in our lifetime will get cancer, so being educated about it is an extremely important component of what I do,” she added.
Four in 10
It is believed that four in 10 cancer cases in the UK can be prevented. Not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding harmful substances, such as asbestos, could help.
“There is a 60% chance of cancer being genetically associated and a 40% chance of it being caused by something we are doing in our daily life,” Dr Dadhania said.
“Prevention and education are, therefore, important components of reducing the risk of developing cancer.”
Screening is a way of spotting cancer in people who show no symptoms. “90,000 cancers were detected though screening in the past five years,” Dr Dadhania said.
The audience heard that when cancer is picked up early there is a better chance of curing it. “In the region of 80% to 90% of cancers can be cured if they are picked up in stage one,” Dr Dadhania said.
“The cancer landscape is changing. Early diagnosis is extremely important as you have a much higher chance of being cured.”
Stephenson concluded that in this industry prevention is key and “everyone is getting their head around that.
“You can’t just rely on the NHS, so having something else in place is important,” he added.
