Health Insurance Does Not Always Protect Cancer Patients From High Out-Of-Pocket Costs

A new report from the American Cancer Society entitled "Spending to Survive:
Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System" describes how group health insurance often fails people diagnosed with cancer.
The report shows how common it is for cancer victims to lose their jobs after becoming too sick to work. When they lose their job they may lose their employer-sponsored health insurance. They may be offered COBRA which may be too expensive for someone without a job. Making matters worse, once they lose their employee benefits, they find themselves un-insurable in the individual market

The study showed that cancer patients are more likely to die without health coverage.
The report highlighted 20 patients who had been diagnosed with cancer and who had group health insurance. Despite having private heath insurance through an employer group, cancer patients are running up large debts, filing for personal bankruptcy and even delaying or skipping treatment because they cannot afford the care.
What causes these holes in group coverage? There were several common themes. One patient found that his group coverage had pre-existing limitations which forced him to put off treatment for 12 months. Another who elected to be treated by an out-of-network specialist for ovarian cancer led to a huge debt.
Many patients learned that they had to keep working, even during their cancer treatments, or risk losing their insurance coverage. One case talks about a 10 year old with leukemia, whose treatments have almost exhausted the family's million dollar lifetime maximum.
When assessing the coverage of your group plan, be sure and look at the following:
1) Does the plan have high cost sharing, either because of deductibles or co-insurance or have low caps on services. 2) 2)Either may leave cancer patients vulnerable
3) Before you become too sick to work, find out what COBRA payments will cost
4) Find out if your state has a high risk pool. The coverage may be expensive but you can be covered
5) Consider investing in a critical illness policy. These policies pay a cash benefits if the insured is diagnosed with certain specific life threatening illnesses including cancer.
6)Sheila Guilloton is the owner of Prestige Planners, a health specialty agency placing health and dental insurance for business and individuals. Licensed with all the major carriers, she counsels and advises clients on how to select the most appropriate coverage.