Captain Kirk has cancer.
William Shatner, who played the original Star Trek space adventurer, has been diagnosed with melanoma, which has spread to his lungs and brain.
Furthermore, the diagnosis came while his 61-year-old daughter was battling breast cancer.
Unfortunately, the statistics mean this should not come as a surprise. One in five people globally will be diagnosed with the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.
It gets worse. Cases are projected to increase 67% by 2050, the World Health Organisation says.
Specifically in Britain alone the number of people living with cancer could hit 5.4 million people by the year 2045, according to research by Scottish Widows.
Cancer is most likely to be the cause of a claim landing on a desk at many protection insurers.
Legal & General claims and clinical development director Vanessa Sallows agrees it is one of the most prominent reason for claims at the insurer.
“We are definitely seeing a year-on-year increase in the number of notifications for cancer,” she adds.
“Mental health has the highest number of notifications at more than 45%, but cancer has the highest number of claims going into payment.“
Cancer plays a huge role in the working life of Alan Lakey, director at Highclere Financial Services and CIExpert.
He says two out of every three claims for critical illness are for cancer, while “probably” 60% of the critical illness claims he has received in the past 30 to 40 years have been for breast cancer.
As well as the rise in incidence, the condition is becoming a bigger topic among younger people due to sufferers documenting their journey on social media, says Emma Astley, founder of Cover My Bubble.
Not just about the money
Cancer is such a big issue for protection insurance that the days of simply paying a claim are long gone.
Some insurers and advice firms now offer access to specialist services which help patients and their families understand the diagnosis and treatment options while other professionals help navigate hospital processes and any admin.
Astley says she does not just sell an insurance policy. She also deals with every claim made by her clients, taking each of them through that journey.
Other insurer benefits include offering bereavement support for family members, including children, who need help with their grief.
“The added benefits from insurers are fantastic,” Astley says. “They help so many clients who are going through an awful time.”
Closing the gap
The earlier cancer is diagnosed, the greater the chances of survival with advances in technology and increased awareness critical factors.
“We are getting to the stage now where people are surviving cancer because it’s been caught earlier due to better diagnostics,” Lakey adds.
However the positive of increased survival rates mean more people need to be rehabilitated and manage their life after treatment.
Perci Health chief executive and co-founder Kelly McCabe highlights the juxtaposition in the current situation.
“Because we are getting better at treating cancer, people are more likely to survive their cancer for five or 10-plus years than they would have 15 to 20 years ago,” McCabe says.
“But we are not good at closing that gap between survival and recovery; surviving cancer is quite different to fully recovering from your cancer.
“What often happens is that people feel supported in the hospital setting – they can access their oncologist and a nurse. But when their treatment ends, they are left to follow up through their GP to access support for the long-term side effects and trying to get back to work.
“So there is a real gap in the recovery and rehabilitation for people living with cancer,” McCabe says.
Younger sufferers
One trend in this condition is the growth in younger sufferers.
The working population are now being drawn more and more into the statistics on those suffering from the disease.
Indeed, cancer rates for the under 50s increased by almost a quarter (24%) between 1995 and 2019, according to Cancer Research UK.
Furthermore, working-aged people living with the disease brings different challenges.
“Younger people are getting diagnosed at a higher rate, which is where insurers and advisers have their target market,” says Denise Wond, director of marketing at Reframe Cancer
“It used to be the plight of an older person, but increasingly it’s younger people.
“That hits different when you have a family, when you have a mortgage, when you have a job.”.
Improving claims processes
For those with life or critical illness insurance, Cover My Bubble’s Astley would like to see the widespread introduction of an interim payment for CI or terminal illness claims, especially where insurers are slow to pay.
She has a client with cancer who made a critical illness claim, but did not receive the payment for several weeks.
The member needed an interim payment because she had started treatment, so had to take time off work.
“I know there are a couple of insurers in the market thinking of doing the additional benefit payout; that might only be £1,000, but that is going to make a difference to families as they are going through a treatment,” Astley says.
Highclere’s Lakey agrees and points to LV= as an example.
“If you put in a cancer claim, they will immediately give you £1,000. If that claim is denied, they don’t ask for it back,” he adds.
While insurers have been improving claims processes and times to pay, there is more to be done.
The Financial Conduct Authority has focussed on claims processes for several years and made them a critical plank of its pure protection market study this year.
Back to work
With more people surviving cancer there is an underserved need to help them back into the workforce and an acknowledgement that while the NHS is good at diagnostics, screening and treatment, helping people return to work is the piece that’s missing.
“Most people want to have some positive outcome and try and get back into work,” Sallows says.
“We want to try and remove all the barriers for cancer claimants.”
Sallows also notes the rise in those aged 25 to 30 living with cancer, but there is another encouraging trend the insurer is experiencing.
“We are seeing that increase in younger cases in our portfolio, but equally that younger population are the largest increase in those we have helped back into the workplace, quicker and in higher proportions than some of the older workforce,” she says.
McCabe explains that within income protection data analysis can help get people back to work quicker, reduce claims duration and ease cost pressure on premiums.
“So the number of claims that get closed increases because we get more people back to work,” she says.
Cutting cancer cover cost
Unfortunately, many cancer patients and survivors are under financial strain as they do not have income protection or critical illness cover, which may have been unaffordable for them.
To fix this, Astley says, “it is down to the adviser” to find suitable solutions as offering full life cover or a standard critical illness policy may not help.
She argues advisers need to offer variations to suit customer budgets, so they have something rather than nothing.
“Not everyone can afford £50, £100 or £200 per month, but if they had a smaller policy in place that is still going to make a massive impact while they are going through that journey,” she says.
“How about a life policy with a bit of critical illness cover or children’s critical illness cover.
“Something is better than nothing,” Astley says.
Caring for the carers
One area where support is often neglected is for those caring for patients and survivors.
Research by Reframe found there were a million people of working age caring for somebody with cancer.
This could be a partner, a parent, son or daughter, a sibling or a friend.
“Carers in the UK just don’t get enough support as they should do,“ says Wond.
“They are juggling work with responsibilities in the home as well as caring for somebody with cancer. Those individuals need that support as well,” she adds.
This support could involve providing practical advice or answering any questions they may have about the disease.
Perci Health’s McCabe agrees access to specialist support is much needed and that more insurers are now offering such assistance for carers.
“We see more of the insurers doing this now for carers,” she adds.
Long-term condition
McCabe not only wants the gap between survival and recovery to narrow, but she also wants insurers to consider the quality of life of someone living with and beyond cancer.
“What we want is for insurers to no longer see cancer in terms of just treatment,” she says.
“Cancer is now a long-term condition, and a lot of a person’s healthcare happens outside of hospital.”
“Don’t just look at the cancer or the treatment, but look at the whole person, the whole picture,” she concludes.
Cancer remains a major source of claims for protection insurance, but for many more people there is now life after a diagnosis and the sector is increasingly looking to help them.