Insurers are being praised by advisers for their efforts to support customers suffering with cancer – including one that helped a woman who was forced to have her treatment 2,000 miles away from home.
To mark World Cancer Day on 4 February, Health & Protection spoke to private medical insurance and protection advisers to find out about how insurers are performing in terms of the support given to cancer sufferers.
Marcia Reid, non-executive director of Sherwood Healthcare, told Health & Protection that insurers generally offer “fantastic” support to members with cancer with dedicated helplines, specialist advisers and access to early diagnosis and experimental treatments where appropriate.
“The BMA defines the hidden backlog as those patients who require care but have either not yet presented, or who have had referrals cancelled due to the impact of Covid-19 on the NHS,” she said.
“As we know – speedy diagnosis is key to improving the chance of successful treatment outcomes and delays in early intervention is one of the biggest concerns for NHS patients.
“I suspect that PMI becomes an even more valuable commodity to reassure patients that they can have access to early diagnostics if needed,” Reid added.
‘Wonderful’ oncology teams
Isaac Feiner, owner of Lifepoint Healthcare, also had a positive story to tell – adding that overall he has found the oncology teams at insurers to be “wonderful”.
“They are staffed by caring medical professionals who offer support, warmth and care in a way that surpasses the basic job description,” he said.
“I am sure this is because the people who work in these departments are acutely aware of the shock and pain people are going through, and the sensitivity exhibited by insurers overall is excellent.
“It is very rare if ever that we have an issue or stressful cancer claim. And for that we are grateful to all insurer parties.”
By-passing GP waiting times
Providing a perspective from a protection adviser point of view, Andrew Wilkinson, director at Moneysworth, praised Guardian’s approach to tackling cancer claims.
He highlighted that for stage 4 incurable cancers Guardian does not require a doctor to confirm remaining life expectancy on terminal illness claims and only requires confirmation of diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.
“I imagine that this rule would help speed up some claims because the necessary information could be obtained from the oncology department thus providing a route to bypass those GP surgeries with longer response times,” Wilkinson added.
Clear communication
Finally, Naomi Greatorex, owner of Heath Protection Solutions, told Health & Protection about her customer who was forced to be treated in Greece as she could not travel back home to the UK.
“We had a woman who had her treatment in Greece – she had all of her treatment in Greece so it had to be transferred there. It was a really complex case and not a run of the mill cancer claim at all,” Greatorex said.
“Royal London was so supportive. We had a positive experience with the claim, they were very easy to get hold of and they communicated well.
“We had a good experience because of the way they communicated. They made sure that she could have her report translated because it all came in Greek. It wasn’t an easy claim but they were easy to deal with.
“Our client wasn’t aware she could make a claim and they backdated the premiums that she wouldn’t have had to have paid if she made the claim earlier.
“And her husband has now taken cover with them as well – even though they were not the cheapest.”