Attention on Cancer Insurance Due to Tens of Millions Won Burden for Cancer Treatment
[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Cancer insurance is gaining renewed attention in the insurance market. With advancements in medical technology, the number of people diagnosed with cancer at an early stage has increased, and cancer surgeries using the latest technologies can cost up to tens of millions of won, leading more people to prepare through cancer insurance.
According to the insurance industry on the 15th, Hanwha Life’s ‘Signature Cancer Insurance,’ launched in April, sold more than 40,000 policies within 50 days. This means about 1,000 policies were sold daily on business days. It is the best-selling single cancer insurance product in a short period at Hanwha Life since the COVID-19 pandemic.
This product is popular because policyholders do not have to pay premiums during the ‘90-day waiting period’ when the insurer is not obligated to pay benefits. This differentiates it from other cancer insurance products that charge premiums even during the waiting period.
Kyobo Life’s ‘It’s Okay Cancer Insurance,’ introduced in April, is also performing well, with sales increasing by more than 20% compared to existing cancer insurance products since its launch. This product provides broad coverage from cancer precursor diseases to examinations, new medical treatments, complications, and follow-up treatments.
It was the first in the industry to offer special riders covering specific esophageal diseases diagnosis, diagnosis of nine major complications after anticancer radiation therapy, urostomy surgery, cystostomy surgery, and skin reconstruction surgery.
Mirae Asset Life also launched the ‘Online Targeted Therapy Cancer Insurance’ in the same month, lowering premiums while enhancing benefits, receiving a positive response. It features coverage for cancer diagnosis fees as well as targeted anticancer drug therapy, anticancer drug radiation therapy, and anticancer radiation therapy, all at reasonable premiums.
The reason major insurers are rushing to launch new cancer insurance products is that the incidence of cancer is increasing due to medical technology advancements, and treatment methods are diversifying, resulting in high treatment costs and increasing patient burdens.
According to Hanwha Life’s statistics on indemnity insurance payments, the average indemnity payment for cancer increased by about 35% over ten years, from 4.64 million won in 2011 to 6.28 million won in 2021.
The characteristic of recently launched or currently sold cancer insurance products is their focus on covering new medical technologies. These include special riders for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT), Da Vinci robotic surgery, anticancer hormone drug approved treatments, anticancer radiation, and targeted drug therapy.
Most of these are medical technologies that incur high treatment costs. For example, general laparoscopic surgery costs around 2 to 3 million won, whereas Da Vinci robotic surgery requires more than 10 million won.
There is talk that cancer insurance is entering its third heyday. Cancer insurance first appeared and gained popularity in the 1980s, regained attention with the onset of the aging era in the 2010s, then slowed down, and is now receiving renewed interest this year.
One cause is the increased patient burden due to system changes this year. With the introduction of the new comprehensive payment system this year, anticancer drugs that were previously treated with a 5-20% co-payment must now sometimes be fully paid by the patient.
Additionally, treatments using new drugs and new medical technologies are mostly non-reimbursable by health insurance, so patients have no choice but to cover the high treatment costs through private insurance, leading to an increase in demand for cancer insurance, according to the insurance industry.
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