Star Health and Allied Insurance (SHAI) introduced industry’s first health insurance cover for people already diagnosed with cancer.
The new health insurance scheme, Star Cancer Care Gold, comes in two sum-insured options — Rs. 3 lakh and Rs.5 lakh. Persons in the age group five months to 65 years, who have already been diagnosed with cancer (stage 1 and 2), can take this insurance.
“This is the first-ever insurance cover for cancer-affected people. At present, health cover is not available for people who are diagnosed with cancer. The unique feature of our policy is that it can be bought without a prior medical check-up.
“Customers can submit previous medical records, including details of latest treatment,” said V Jagannathan, Chairman and Managing Director, SHAI.
Star Cancer Care Gold (SCCG) covers the risk of recurrence, the spread of cancer (metastasis) and second cancer (second malignancy).
“This is a pilot stage and we will gradually increase the sum-insured amount based on the response and other outcomes,” said S Prakash, Chief Operating Officer, SHAI. V Shanta, Chairperson, Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai, who launched the scheme, said cancer cover is important in the context of growing treatment costs. “The burden has increased from about Rs.4.73 lakh in the mid-1980s to Rs.12 lakh now, and is expected to increase Rs. 15 lakh by 2020,” she added.
