The Financial Stress of Cancer in Canada,
and The Need For Critical Illness Insurance.
While the physical and emotional challenges of cancer are well-known, many Canadians are unaware that cancer can also take a serious financial toll. Those living with Cancer know the financial impact a diagnosis can have. People are living in financial hardship while facing very difficult decisions around their cancer care and treatment. Many of the latest Cancer treatments and drugs are not covered by Canadian health care.
Critical Illness Insurance is the only product that helps fill the desperate need for upfront money during an illness like cancer. Should we be concerned about cancer? Consider these recent, hard-hitting statistics from the Canadian Cancer Society:
- Cancer is diagnosed every 8 minutes in Ontario.
- 3,340 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer every week.
- 40% of Canadian women and 45% of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes.
- The average cost of a single course of treatment with current cancer drugs is $65,000, nearly as high as Canadians’ average annual income.
- Three-quarter of cancer drugs taken at home cost more than $20,000 annually.
Visit the Canadian Cancer Society website here for more alarming statistics.
Only 37.5 percent of the average Canadian’s drug costs are publicly funded. The rest is paid by private plans and out of pocket. Source: Rx&D 2008/09
“The patience of our patients is depleting as the solutions for managing their own cancer, their own catastrophic drug costs and their own health remain out of reach. If they don’t have insurance, they’re out of luck. ” James Gowing, an oncologist and chairman of the Cancer Advocacy Coalition.
“During cancer treatment a person needs to focus on their health. It’s not a time to worry about how they are going to pay for the drugs. This is simply unacceptable.” Dan Demers, Director of Public Issues for the Canadian Cancer Society.
“Many people are unaware of the high cost of breast cancer until they start to get treatment. Like many Canadians, they assume that public health care would cover most of their costs,” says research by the Canadian Breast Cancer Network.
How Long Can You Afford to Wait for Treatment?
Not only do we have to worry about costs, but what about wait times?
“Evidence shows that delays in the public health care system are widespread and patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care“, says the Supreme Court of Canada, June, 2005
“The Canadian health care system is ridiculous, ludicrous and silly. We pay more to keep people on wait lists than to get them off. That’s how stupid the system has become,” says Dr. Brian Day, Physician and former President of The Canadian Medical Association.
Not only are cancer costs catastrophic, but the wait times for treatment are just as stressful. The reality in Ontario is that there are long waits for MRI’s and other diagnostics, poor access to doctors and unacceptable delays for some surgeries. A few years ago, a York Region man had to wait 4 months for an MRI and three months more to see a specialist for his…get this, BRAIN CANCER. He went to Buffalo himself to get his MRI and then went back again for brain cancer surgery, all at a cost of $27,000.
“There’s no question that going to the United States saved my life” Says Barry Stein, a 41-year-old Montreal lawyer who learned the cancer in his colon had spread to his liver, and knew there wasn’t a minute to spare. To save his life, the needed surgery kept getting postponed. The reason? Operating rooms were booked solid. See – Going South for Health Care, Canadians fed up with long waits for medical care are routinely going to the United States. Should you? Readersdigest.ca
An Alberta man, suffering from brain cancer, was forced to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. for lifesaving surgery — at a cost to family and friends of $106,000. Alberta health care left him hanging in limbo for 16 crucial days while they dithered over his case file, while his tumour spread to an unreachable part of the brain, ultimately deciding he was not surgery worthy. – See Sick Man Faces Bankruptcy or Death- Calgary Sun, Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Some of the most advanced treatments for disease, especially cancer, are being performed in the United States with little to no wait times. These treatments are not covered by OHIP or group insurance. Many politicians, celebrities, doctors, lawyers, executives, people with high levels of income, are the first to fly south of the border to clinics in the U.S. for treatment and care. Take the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas, for example. Dr. Burzynski has been using a groundbreaking, non-surgical, non and low-toxic alternative cancer treatment regimen for over 30 years. He constantly treats patients that are deemed inoperable or untreatable and extends their life by leaps and bounds. The average treatment at the Burzynski clinic is roughly $50,000 dollars.
The majority of Critical Illness Insurance claims come from Cancer.
The total payout of Critical Illness Insurance claims exceeds $341,521,671 dollars.
From September 1997 to September 2010, Source – Munich Reinsurance
Do you need any more reason to consider purchasing a Critical Illness Insurance policy? Procrastination can hurt your financially. Don’t be caught unprepared like the many Canadians who don’t plan for the unexpected.
Take responsibility. Empower Yourself.
Apply for a Critical Illness Insurance policy today.
Recent articles illustrating the need for Critical Illness Insurance in Canada:
- Canadians Worried about Cost of Cancer, Canadian Cancer Society, September 2010
- Costs as big a worry as health in cancer diagnosis, Globe and Mail, September 2010
- Breast cancer costs almost as severe as illness, Toronto Sun, May 2010
-Visit our main Critical Illness Insurance page here.
