G&M Today Issue 1 - Page 1
Value of pmi grows as cancer tops the priorty list by Steve Bojakowski and Greg Page of Rache
A recent campaign run by Beating Bowel Cancer, and backed by Roche, has shown something that many of us suspected – cancer now tops the priority list for individuals with private medical insurance (PMI). A survey of 690 policy holders, conducted by the leading UK patient group, showed that 91% ranked adequate cancer cover as being important, making it the number one priority.PMI is traditionally seen as a method for getting faster access to doctors and treatment and although this was still reported as the most important benefit of having PMI, the second benefit was getting better choice. Similarly 8 out of 10 respondents cited that it was important to gain access to drugs not available on the NHS. This heightened awareness is probably due to an increasing number of high profile cases of patients campaigning to get access to these cancer treatments.
The public focus on availability of cancer treatment is likely to grow as increasing numbers of people will need cancer treatment, due in part to the aging population but also to the increase in screening and diagnosis of cancer. In fact it is now estimated that 1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
Access to these innovative cancer treatments is not an issue for the 1 in 8 people with PMI who, as long as their policy covers cancer adequately, may then gain an advantage over NHS patients in access to greater choice of cancer treatments. As a result cancer coverage is a key attribute of PMI and will potentially attract more people to opt for private medical insurance.
Currently the majority of PMI holders are provided their cover as an employment benefit, which was ranked by the survey respondents as second only to a company pension plan. The provision of PMI beyond retirement should be carefully considered by holders as this benefit may not continue beyond 65.
PMI holders should also be aware that the extent of their cancer coverage depends on the type of policy held. A worrying aspect of the Beating Bowel Cancer findings was that many people do not know whether they are in fact covered for cancer as over half have never read their policy. As the Chief Executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, Hilary Whittaker says, “1 in 4 said that if their policy didn’t provide adequate cover for cancer they would actually consider topping up their policies to ensure gold standard coverage. So the advice is to check your policy: what does it cover and, if it is provided by your employer, will it still be there when you retire?
Continue to Page 2
The views and comments supplied by our partners do not necessarily reflect the views held by General & Medical or any other contributors.