Cancer now affects one in three of us at some point in our lives. But while the incidence of the disease is rising, better screening and more effective treatments mean that many of those diagnosed with cancer can subsequently make a complete recovery and resume a perfectly normal lifestyle. Until, that is, they try to obtain many vital financial services.
Recent research by Macmillan Cancer Relief found that, second only to pain, most cancer patients considered money worries their biggest cause of stress. Following a cancer diagnosis, finding affordable travel insurance becomes very difficult and obtaining life and critical illness cover is practically impossible.
So, what financial options are open to those diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening diseases? And are recent improvements in life expectancy being reflected in any greater availability of financial products?
Financial planning
Although it may be the last thing on their minds, anyone diagnosed with a serious illness should seek experienced and impartial financial advice as soon as possible. "This is absolutely vital," says Mike Douglas, chief operations officer with Partnership Insurance, one of the leading providers of impaired life assurance policies. "Without good financial advice people can lose out on thousands of pounds."
This particularly applies to impaired life annuities - enhanced benefits from pension schemes, available to people with serious health impairments and considered to have a shorter-than-normal life span. However, Douglas warns that as cancer is an acute condition, any enhanced retirement income has to be purchased immediately. "If you are cured and survive, an enhanced annuity will not be available, especially three or four years down the line," he says.
As the survival period increases, so does the number of life insurers willing to offer you cover. "Immediately after diagnosis it is almost impossible to find life cover, but life assurance is gradually moving in line with new developments and underwriting manuals are constantly changing," says Douglas.
This is echoed by Kevin Carr of insurance broker Life Search. "It is now not necessarily impossible to get life cover, even after a life-threatening diagnosis," he says. "There is usually a period of postponement - the more serious the diagnosis, the greater the period - and there will probably be extra loading, including that for linked conditions. But after that, full life cover should be available and costs should reduce as time goes on." Mr Carr advises anyone in this position to shop around and not to be surprised if they are turned down by the cheapest providers, as they usually cherry pick. He also recommends seeking out specialist providers.
One such specialist is Bright Grey set up by the Royal London Group to offer a new, flexible approach to lifestyle protection. Bright Grey's products director, Roger Edwards explains: "We always try to dwell on the most positive aspect of a situation. In the past, the insurance industry has often been guilty of over-concentrating on the negative." Critical illness cover, he points out, used to be a complete no-no after any serious illness diagnosis, but now some companies are taking new developments and improved treatments into account and offering cover. However, there are no hard-and-fast rules and every case is considered on individual circumstances.
Edwards also stresses the importance of specialist advice. "The internet is a fabulous thing but its insurance offers are based around speed and cheapness. After any serious illness, you really do need to talk to an expert," he says.
There are still few specialist insurance brokers around, but Special Risks Bureau was set up In 2003 specifically to improve the lot of those clients who found difficulty in getting life cover. It now has over 10,000 advisers able to introduce cases and eight participating product providers. The company's managing director, Mike Owen, a cancer survivor himself, also encourages customers to be positive about things. "Cancer is such a big area in terms of severity and coverage and, although we cannot offer an immediate panacea, especially right after treatment, it is usually possible to provide life cover, after a period of postponement, although loadings will be high for the first four to or five years." Mr Owen explains that the market is moving all the time in line with medical science and it is now even possible to provide some cover for those diagnosed with HIV; an advance that would have been unthinkable even five years ago.
