Real Life: Why Critical Illness Insurance is Important
By Michael Naumann
Focus on Real-Life Stories to Support the Data You don’t have to be in our business to know a critical illness can arise at any time, out of the blue. According to the American Association for Critical Insurance, approximately 40% of men and women will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Heart attacks and strokes occur every 40 seconds in this country. The Parkinson’s Foundation reports 1 million people are suffering from the disease in the U.S., and that number is expected to reach 1.2 million by 2030. The good news is, most will survive, but with that comes the cost of treatment, along with predictable and unforeseen ancillary costs – which brings the bad news. Most are not prepared. There’s a tremendous volume of data about the number of Americans with limited savings. Bankrate’s annual survey found nearly 60% of U.S. adults are not prepared for a $1,000 emergency expense. You don’t have to dig too far into the research to find the number of workers enrolled in High Deductible Health Plans, statistics on the number of workers who can’t afford the out-of-pocket medical and nonmedical expenses when an unexpected critical illness medical event occurs, and figures on the prevalence of a severe medical diagnosis paired with enrollment data on how employees waive off enrolling in Critical Illness plans.
These realizations led me to look deeper into the medical and non-medical expenses incurred specifically when cancer strikes. Perhaps not surprisingly, I found myself knee-deep in GoFundMe efforts from those seeking financial help because of a medical event. As I reviewed these heartfelt requests for financial support, the research data, statistics, figures and numbers faded as real-life stories truly proved the importance of, and need for, Critical Illness insurance. Consider these scenarios.* The financial implications include more than the cost of treatment. “We are asking for donations of any amount to help this family cover the cost of meals, childcare, procedures not covered by insurance, loss of income and eventual loss of benefits and any additional support they need.” “Cancer treatment isn't only challenging for the patient, it's expensive, with many associative costs not covered by insurance or even anticipated until yet another medical invoice arrives.” “I've estimated that they will spend approximately $15k this year towards travel, in addition to ongoing medical bills that are regularly paid to cover treatments. Cancer treatments are not fully covered by insurance and chemo/radiation costs thousands.”
