Cancer Corps. Critical Illness Insurance

The life of a modern person is filled with events and plans. In the turmoil of affairs, there is often no time left to be diagnosed by a doctor and find out the causes of the unpleasant symptoms that have appeared. When the discomfort becomes severe, it turns out that precious time has been lost, and now trying to fight the disease means a huge waste of time and money. In order not to be on the verge of financial bankruptcy, the patient can use a special insurance product - critical illness insurance, i.e. potentially fatal diseases. All costs associated with therapy will be borne by the insurer.

Main provisions of the agreement

Critical illness insurance is in many ways similar to life or disability insurance. However, there is an important difference: the two types of policies pay out if the insured has died or received a disability incompatible with work. All costs associated with obtaining medical services, the purchase of medicines, fall on the shoulders of the patient and his family.

VHI for deadly ailments, on the contrary, is valid when the patient is alive. Payments from the insurance company are used to purchase the services and medicines necessary for recovery. The presence of financial support increases the chances that a citizen will be able to cope with a dangerous disease. The cost of the policy is determined for each client individually. When calculating it, the insurer proceeds from the following factors:

• Patient's age;
• His gender;
• Indicators of the state of his body;
• term of insurance;
• Cover amount.

Insurers reserve the right to revise the amount of the premium depending on the statistics of the incidence of certain ailments in the country as a whole. VHI for critical illness can be taken out as a stand-alone insurance product or as an add-on to a policy with "standard" or limited coverage. Critical illness insurance includes the following:

• A citizen chooses the term of insurance independently: there are offers of policies for 1, 2 years, 5, 7 years on the market;
• A citizen undergoes a mandatory full diagnostics (Check up) in a medical institution that has an agreement with the insurer. For example, Ingosstrakh's seven-year program "Frontiers of Health" provides for an examination every two years;
• The insured is paid the amount of money specified in the policy when a specific diagnosis is made. To receive funds, a citizen must live at least 30 days from now;
• The patient has the right to spend the amount received for any needs;
• Basic insurance covers oncology, heart attack and stroke. Additionally, the client can include about 40 diseases in the policy.

The amount received from the insurer can be used for any purpose, including the purchase of medicines and payment for medical services and assistance, the use of alternative (non-traditional) methods of treatment, debt repayment, modification of the house and personal car, training in a new profession, etc. But if a citizen dies from a critical illness, the premiums paid are returned to his successors.

What is considered an insured event?

An insured event is a patient's visit to a doctor for the diagnosis or treatment of a disease specified in the insurance policy during the validity period of the VHI. Today, insurance companies offer protection that covers more than 40 potentially dangerous illnesses, but insurance does not cover suicide attempts, illnesses resulting from emergencies, military operations, due to the deliberate actions of the patient, unsuccessful attempts at self-medication, professional sports and etc. Insured events include the following:

• malignant tumors;
• heart attack;
• Stroke;
• Bypass heart;
• severe burns;
• loss of vision or hearing;
• Paralysis or amputation of limbs;
• Multiple sclerosis;
• kidney failure;
• Organ transplantation and so on.

The above list is not final, it may include additional positions depending on the desire and financial capabilities of the insured company. Oncology, heart attacks and strokes are diseases included in the basic coverage under the policy. Additionally, the patient and the insurer can agree on the indication of other ailments. The larger the list, the larger the premium will be. Critical illnesses have one thing in common: in the absence of timely therapy, they will be introduced to the death of the patient, but with early diagnosis in 90% of cases they can be treated.

Who is not entitled to insurance?

The goal of insurance companies is to minimize their own risks, so they have developed a system of requirements for potential customers. To assess such risks, insurers survey their clients, and can also send them for a medical examination to make sure that a citizen came for insurance while being sick. In general, the criteria for selecting potential insurers can be reduced to the following points:

• Age. Insurers work with persons from 18 to 65 (75) years old;
• Lifestyle;
• The medical history of the patient;
• current state of health.

Registration of the policy is not available for citizens who are in places of deprivation of liberty, who abuse alcohol and drugs, who are registered with a psychiatrist. Insurers do not work with those who have previously suffered serious illnesses (renal failure, hepatitis, ulcerative colitis, etc.), organ transplantation. VHI will not be issued to citizens with diabetes, the disabled, those diagnosed with heart disease, malignant tumors, etc. The insurance company will refuse to pay out the funds if it turns out that, for example, the patient had cancer before the purchase of the VHI policy.

Duration of the insurance policy

A feature of critical illness insurance is the “temporary deductible”. It means that a person cannot purchase a policy and start treatment for cancer or kidney failure the next day. There is a grace period that minimizes the risks of the insurer. The duration of the franchise depends on the validity of the policy and is set by each company independently. For example, the Panacea society offers the following conditions:

• Waiting for an insurance policy - 5 days after purchase;
• Franchise validity when the main insurance cover is not valid - 6 months after purchase;
• The period of validity of full insurance coverage is the last 12 months.

If the client falls ill during the period of the "temporary deductible", he will not be able to receive insurance payments. If a survey conducted after 7 months reveals that a person has oncology, he will be paid the amount due. To receive payments, the client contacts the insurer by phone or e-mail. If the diagnosis is confirmed, the amount due is transferred to him, they help him choose specialists for treatment, a medical institution, and settle all the formalities that arise.

Conclusion

Insurance against critical (fatal) diseases is quite risky for insurance companies, so they have a number of criteria for selecting customers to minimize such risks. Many companies choose not to insure against cancer, since the cost of treatment is hundreds of times higher than premiums, and such diseases are often recurrent. The operation of the insurance policy also has its own characteristics, which, in particular, cannot be used immediately after the conclusion of the contract.

Critical Illness Insurance Gives People a Chance to Heal

Photo: Fotolia/ribalka yuli

The market for critical illness insurance, including cancer, is growing rapidly following the increase in morbidity and due to people's increased attention to their health. Moreover, the rapid growth of this market has become a driver for the entire segment of life insurance.

Conscious choice

Every year on February 4, humanity celebrates World Cancer Day. Critical illness insurance has become one of the ways of this struggle.

In the Russian critical illness insurance (CHI) and cancer insurance market, only about a dozen insurance companies are active, specializing in either VHI or life insurance. Moreover, most of them entered this segment in the last year or two. Prior to this, the diagnosis of a malignant tumor was traditionally considered an exception to the insured events of VHI, life insurance and accidents. Since 2014, however, a separate specific market segment has begun to form - critical illness insurance, including cancer. As it became clear that these products were becoming more and more popular with customers, more and more insurers began to “connect” the service.

It is currently quite difficult to correctly measure the market size due to the fact that different companies attribute the risks associated with oncology to different areas. Someone includes them as an additional option to the personal and corporate VHI program (for example, SPAO Ingosstrakh covers this risk under corporate VHI agreements for 50,000 employees of clients). Someone - as a standard or additional risk in life insurance. Someone - as one of the risks in the program of treatment abroad (SC "Welfare").

“We did not make a separate assessment of the market volume, but we assess it as insignificant, and the market itself as very far from saturation,” says Elena Kovaleva, General Director of IC Soglasie-Vita.

With the increased interest of insurers in such products, many companies have launched separate “oncological” programs or VHC programs in the last year, including oncology (VTB, Ingosstrakh-Life, IC “Welfare”), and some have begun to actively sell such policies online, which should also spur the growth of the segment as a whole. In December 2016, VSK announced electronic sales, just the other day - "Consent-Vita", in March it plans to launch the online service "MetLife".

According to rough estimates by the insurers themselves, the total capacity of the market for accident insurance, life insurance and VHI, which may include cancer risks, is no more than 5 billion rubles. This figure, in particular, is given by Oleg Merkulov, Deputy General Director of VTB Insurance. The company entered this segment of the market relatively recently - in 2013, but is very active: in 2016, it seriously expanded the line, due to which the number of contracts for this type of insurance increased almost 2.5 times - from 64 thousand to 2015 to 155 thousand for 2016.

A 50% growth in 2016 was also shown by another relatively new participant in the VHC market - IC "Welfare": the program for insurance against the risk of treatment and operations abroad, including cancer insurance, was launched in 2014. In 2016, another VHC program called Conscious Choice appeared. In just a year, the company collected about 100 million rubles of premiums for these two types of insurance.

The “old men” who have already gained a portfolio a long time ago, of course, do not demonstrate such rapid growth. MetLife can be considered a pioneer in critical illness insurance (CHI), which began offering the inclusion of such risks to its corporate clients back in 2005, and to “physicists” in 2008. Over the years, the insurer has collected a huge portfolio of contracts, including cancer insurance - 400 thousand. Now he has cancer risks included in VHI programs, accident insurance, and life insurance. In 2016, the increase in the number of contracts for health insurance will be 5-6%, for corporate voluntary health insurance, including oncology, - 15%.

Other experienced players in this market include PPF Life Insurance, which began including cancer as an additional risk back in 2010. The portfolio of the insurer includes more than 69 thousand contracts with the risk of "insurance against deadly diseases".

“Oncological insurance has been one of the drivers of the life insurance market for several years,” says Dmitry Dubina, technical director of PPF Life Insurance. “Our company is one of the leaders in this field, bringing new advanced products to the market.” In 2014, PPF Life Insurance was one of the first to develop separate programs for cancer in general and a special program for women.

MetLife also has specific "women's" programs. In 2014, the company introduced the Harmony women's critical illness insurance program, which focuses on comprehensive protection in the diagnosis of female and other types of cancer for young clients, as well as specific female diseases such as age-related osteoporosis, heart attack and stroke for women in aged 45 years and older. According to MetLife, 60-80% of critical illness insurance payouts are payouts related to the diagnosis of cancer in the insured.

Ingosstrakh-Life offers an original product that combines protection against the risk of oncological diseases and endowment life insurance: the program is designed for seven years, during which the insurance protection is valid. At the end of this period, if the insured event has not occurred, the insured receives back all his contributions.

The Edge of Health program has been supplemented with a comprehensive service component. “Our program has been operating for seven years and involves passing a check-up every two years, organizing and paying for treatment in the amount of up to 300 million rubles. By purchasing the program, the client can simply make one call to sign up for a check-up or declare an insured event (diagnosing a critical illness), we take care of the rest, - says Vladimir Chernikov, General Director of Ingosstrakh-Life. - Namely: the organization of a preventive examination in any clinic in the Russian Federation where the selected version of the program operates, obtaining a second medical opinion in case of a critical illness, immediate organization of treatment, visa support, transfer, accommodation and even payment for prescribed medications that will be necessary take after treatment.

For the rest of my life?

The spread of insurance coverage, tariffs, the form of payment of insurance compensation and the service accompanying the service is so large that it is difficult to systematize.

The list of critical illnesses from VHCs can include from one to 40 diagnoses. The most common are cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke, kidney failure, paralysis, blindness, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, muscular dystrophy, coronary artery bypass grafting, vital organ transplantation. Insurance premiums vary from 3,900 to 39,000 rubles, and the amount of the premium does not always directly depend on the sum insured. Other factors that increase the cost of insurance may be the age and gender of the insured, a set of risks and services. But far from all companies have gender and age differences, some divide the insured conditionally into adults - from 18 to 64 years old - and children - up to 18 years old. A number of insurers, such as IC "Welfare" and "MetLife", have children's programs that include oncology.

Usually increase with age. However, there are also programs in which, upon entering at a certain age, the premium remains unchanged throughout its duration. By the way, this is another argument in favor of long-term insurance (usually contracts for HCZ are concluded for seven, ten years or for life).

It makes no sense to insure against short circuit or separately oncology for a year. “Naturally, when we talk about the future, we mean not one year, but a much longer period. If the annual policy is guaranteed to be renewed, it does not matter which policy you choose - annual or long-term, - says Dmitry Maksimov, General Director of IC Blagosostoyanie. “If the policy is only an annual one and the next year it is supposed to undergo repeated examinations or significant changes in the insurance conditions, then you need to understand that such a program cannot be a solution to the problem.”

Most VHC contracts have a waiting period (90-180 days), during which no insurance amount is paid in case of cancer or other short-term disability. Thus, the company insures itself, reducing the risk that a person enters into an insurance contract, already knowing or suspecting the diagnosis. Malignant neoplasms detected before the purchase of the insurance policy, as well as the presence of an HIV infection in the insured person - exclusions from insurance coverage under such programs.

Oleg Merkulov from VTB Insurance explains that a waiting period is necessary, since conducting examinations at the stage of buying an insurance policy is long, labor-intensive and ineffective (an examination may not diagnose a disease). “If a person falls ill during the waiting period, the insurance amount is not paid to him, but the assistance system begins to work: we provide all legal and consulting support for patient routing to ensure treatment within the framework of state guarantees,” says Merkulov.

Money or kind?

The sum insured under VHC or cancer treatment contracts varies in different companies and for different types of contracts - from 500,000 to 300 million rubles. The average amount of insurance coverage, according to MetLife, is 700-850 thousand rubles. At the same time, the maximum payment made by this company under such insurance is 7.5 million rubles, and under the corporate program - 9 million rubles.

There are two fundamentally different approaches to the payment of insurance compensation: cash or payment of medical bills and additional services. Some companies (for example, "Consent-Vita", "PPF Life Insurance") upon the occurrence of an insured event (diagnosis of a critical illness and / or malignant tumor) practice a standard one-time non-targeted payment. As a rule, 500 thousand or 1 million rubles, depending on the contract.

A person spends these funds at his own discretion: he can send them for treatment, pay for rehabilitation in Russia or abroad, purchase imported medicines, pay any current expenses. In "Consent", in case of late detection of the disease, payments can be made twice: first, upon the diagnosis of the disease, and then upon the fact of death.

Other insurers have chosen the option of paying for the necessary medical care within the limits of the insurance amount stipulated by the contract and, in some cases, service support for the insured. As a rule, this path is followed by insurance companies that are part of a large holding company with a developed system of medical care (for example, Welfare, which is part of the Russian Railways system) or that have partnerships with service medical companies (such as Best Doctors, Europ Assicstance, Chez Medical Tours) .

In VTB Insurance, if a disease is detected, the policy makes it possible to double-check the diagnosis in a good clinic with leading oncologists, develop a treatment plan, and choose a specialized clinic in accordance with the established disease. The insured is under the supervision of doctors for three years - despite the fact that the validity of the policy, taking into account the waiting period, is 18 months. Ingosstrakh-Life provides full treatment for cancer patients within a year after the expiration of the contract, if the start of treatment or the occurrence of an insured event occurred at the end of this period.

Most companies pay not only for the diagnosis and treatment itself, but also for regular oncologist examinations, tests and re-diagnosis, which are necessary for critical illnesses.

May include payment for the travel of the insured to the place of treatment and accommodation of one accompanying person in a hotel, as well as payment for high-tech drugs for chemotherapy and blood-based drugs.

Whether all these options are included in the contract must be clarified in advance. It is also worth paying attention to how the company interprets the terms "oncological disease" and "precancerous condition", whether the detection of a benign tumor in a person is included in the insured events.

Director General of IC "Welfare" Dmitry Maksimov believes that if a person is well versed in medical services in Russia and abroad, he can choose a monetary refund. “But the majority, including myself, prefer policies that involve the organization and payment of medical care,” the expert emphasizes.

The main target audience of various products that include cancer insurance are middle-aged people (35-45 years old), since it is they who, when malignant tumors are detected, need urgent treatment. And it is they who, when diagnosed at the 1-2nd stage, can be helped to return to a full life. According to MetLife statistics, the most common insured event in VHC is the diagnosis of oncology at an early stage in the presence of a favorable clinical prognosis. It is in such cases that insurance payments will be a serious financial support in the treatment of oncology by the insured.

The concept of critical illness insurance (hereinafter referred to as CHI) was first proposed by cardiac surgeon Marius Barnard in South Africa in 1983. The market potential of CHI is closely related to the level of development of medical technologies: the more advanced the latter, the greater the likelihood of survival as a result of the treatment of the disease. VHC is an insurance product that is developing at the fastest pace in the world compared to other types of life insurance.

Coverage in its basic version is provided by a lump sum, which is paid in the event of the occurrence or diagnosis of one of a number of diseases or medical conditions listed in the policy. Critical illness insurance can act as an elective option to a life insurance policy to provide the insured with an additional amount or an advance share of the sum insured, which is payable after his death.

The cost of a VHC policy depends on factors such as age, gender, lifestyle, medical history, term of insurance, and sum insured.

The main conditions of insurance against critical illnesses include:

• providing the insured person with a certain amount of money upon establishing the diagnosis of any disease listed in the policy. In this case, the insured must live at least 30 days from the date of diagnosis;
• the insured disposes of the received sum of money at his own discretion;
• basic coverage covers diseases such as heart attack, stroke, cancer;
• additionally, more than 40 types of diseases can be included in the policy;
• in the event of the death of the insured, the paid premiums are returned;
• a critical illness insurance policy can act as a separate insurance product, and any life insurance policies can be added to it as options;

• the term of the policy varies from 5 years until the insured reaches 65 or 75;
• the possibility of returning insurance premiums in the absence of claims for payment after 10 years or upon reaching the age of 75 by the insured.

The basic exceptions include the following:

• participation in aviation flights as other than a passenger of a commercially licensed airline;
• participation in criminal activity;
• drug abuse. Alcohol or drug addiction (substance abuse) or drug use in cases other than prescribed by a doctor who has a license to practice medicine;
• non-compliance with medical prescriptions. Unreasonable non-compliance or non-compliance with medical or medical prescriptions;
• dangerous sports or leisure activities (boxing, rock climbing, descent into caves, horseback riding, skiing, martial arts, yacht and motorboat racing, underwater diving, car testing, auto racing);
• AIDS / HIV. Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or the occurrence of diseases caused by acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS);
• long-term residence abroad;
• intentional self-harm;
• war or civil unrest. War, invasion, hostilities (whether war has been declared or not), civil war, riot, revolution, or participation in a mutiny or civil unrest.

VHC policies differ depending on the type of coverage (a list of diseases for which payment is made) and combinations of risks. The simplest policy includes heart attacks, stroke, cancer (i.e. the most common critical illnesses). The second, more complex type of coverage covers cardiovascular surgery, multiple sclerosis, kidney failure, paralysis, blindness, hearing loss, organ loss or transplant. Some insurers cover Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, coma, loss of speech function, severe burns. This list does not cover all possible diseases, but guarantees payment for most of them. Many modern VHC policies provide protection against more than 40 diseases.

Critical illness insurance is a relatively new product for Russia. Life insurers have been developing and offering these programs for the past 3-4 years. Now there are more than a dozen such products on the market from different insurance companies. Sales of this type of insurance are growing rapidly. For example, our company began selling critical illness insurance in Q3 2014 and has signed over 80,000 contracts since then. Considering the effect of the low base, the number of contracts concluded increases by tens of percent from year to year.

As with life insurance in general, the volume of sales of critical illness insurance programs depends on the volume of supply. The more agents the company has (individuals, banks, brokers) who can briefly and clearly explain to the client the essence, meaning and objectives of the product, the higher the demand will be. Despite the spread of cancer, so far people rarely think about protecting themselves from these risks on their own.

Most critical illness insurance programs are sold in a boxed product format, which excludes the possibility of medical examination and individual needs. As a rule, contact with the client occurs through banks, and the seller has only a few minutes to talk about the program and conclude an agreement on the basis of a signed questionnaire - a declaration of health. However, with the development of the market, customized products are expected, and those customers who want to choose an individual set of risks at the best price will be able to do this by passing a medical examination.

At the moment, an average of 1 client per 2,500 insured applies for assistance under such programs. As the distribution of the product grows, so will the frequency of hits. This should be taken into account when indexing tariffs, as well as changes in the cost of treatment and exchange rates, especially if the program provides for access to foreign medicine.

Despite the growing popularity of critical illness insurance, the development of this segment in Russia faces a number of obstacles that need to be gradually overcome in order to maintain high growth rates of penetration of these products.

• Low insurance culture of Russians. Many continue to believe that the state should solve any health problems, and ignore the fact that free medicine according to the CHI model is far from always able to provide adequate treatment. Therefore, events are held annually throughout Russia to improve the level of financial literacy of the population, where representatives of financial organizations (banks, insurance companies, etc.) are involved as experts. Financial consultants of the life insurer agency network are trained, become certified tutors and conduct seminars at such events. Every year, hundreds of thousands of citizens from all over Russia take part in them, and online participants number in the millions. Such events will allow life insurers to speak more publicly about critical illness insurance and popularize this product.
• People's ignorance about critical illness insurance programs. Most Russians do not even know that such products are available to them. The volume and variety of offers are increasing, but insurers can ensure a qualitative increase in coverage using different communication channels, including through the media. Special attention should be paid to work in social networks. On the pages of companies, industry associations, public organizations involved in financial education, it is important to raise topics that are relevant to people, on which they can easily and quickly give feedback: express opinions, ask questions, share problems and expectations. Discussion of the topic of cancer on such communication platforms will allow insurers to offer the audience a solution to the problem - to talk about insurance programs for critical illnesses.
• Weak development of corporate insurance. Critical illness insurance can seriously strengthen this segment. However, the majority of Russian enterprises still perceive the insurance protection of employees as an additional financial burden. How to convey to business the importance of corporate insurance, including in case of critical illness of employees? A proven method is through increasing the financial literacy of staff. Hundreds of events were held in various organizations, after which many companies asked to engage in improving the financial literacy of their employees on a regular basis. By educating the team, you also educate the management, which thinks about the benefits of corporate insurance programs for motivating and developing human capital.

The very relevance of this product, due to the increase in the spread of oncology in the modern world, will also contribute to overcoming the identified obstacles and increasing the coverage of the population with insurance programs in case of critical illness.

Health insurance is one of the most demanded services nowadays. The VHI policy has long become the norm not only as a significant bonus for employees of large corporations, but also as a guarantee of fast and, in most cases, high-quality medical care for ordinary people. But until recently, insurance companies have been very picky about selecting their customers, especially in terms of their potential health problems. No wonder. The goal of an ordinary person who buys a paid medical policy is to minimize the cost of treating an unplanned illness. The goal of an insurance company is to make money. That is, to receive more money than to pay. Therefore, really serious and expensive diseases and conditions remained outside the interests of insurers for a very long time: HIV infection, cancer, organ transplantation, etc.

But times are changing. In recent years, one by one, major insurers have introduced new insurance programs against potentially fatal diseases, the cost of treatment of which puts not only the patient, but also his relatives on the verge of bankruptcy. MedAboutMe understood the nuances of critical illness insurance.

The concept of critical illness was introduced into practice by insurance companies. Today, this term means a disease that significantly changes a person's lifestyle, while it is unambiguously and objectively diagnosed, and a sufficient statistical base has been accumulated on it. The list of critical illnesses is not very large yet, but every year it is gradually increasing. For example, it now includes the following diseases, conditions, and medical procedures:

• stroke;
• CABG surgery (coronary bypass grafting);
• myocardial infarction;
• malignant tumors (cancer);
• organ transplant;
• terminal renal failure;
• paralysis;
• loss of limbs;
• loss of hearing or speech;
• Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease, provided that the patient is under 60 years of age;
• multiple sclerosis, etc.

To date, this list, depending on the capabilities of the insurance company, may include more than 40 diseases. All these diseases and conditions have in common that, if not treated promptly, they are fatal or lead to severe disability. With early diagnosis, 90% of cases can be cured. The most frequent insured events, according to statistics, are stroke, heart attack and cancer.

Who needs critical illness insurance?

When the average citizen first encounters a disease on this list, they are faced with a whole palisade of problems:

• Diagnostic problems - especially when it comes to the province.
• The delay in starting treatment is due to the same problems with diagnostics, or the lack of specialists, or a shortage of drugs, or the inability to immediately get to the clinic where the necessary therapy is carried out.
• Lack of information on the treatment of such a complex disease.
• Shortage and other problems with access to effective medicines.
• Problems with the implementation and payment of rehabilitation measures.

At the same time, the well-being of our fellow citizens is falling, and the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases is growing. And, of course, you want to be sure that if such a disaster affects you or your loved ones, “the rear will be covered”, and there will be enough money and strength to overcome the disease.

The following types of insurance assistance are distinguished for patients who have been diagnosed with a critical illness:

• cash payments;
• organization of treatment in Russia or in a foreign clinic.

Various combinations of these two basic forms are also possible.

Additional services include:

• Organization of a consultation for re-diagnosis and verification of the correctness of the diagnosis. Major insurance companies promise consultations with the best doctors in the country.
• Payment for the purchase of medicines that are not included in the standard therapy for this disease. So, some insurance companies offer payment for targeted therapy - the most modern technologies that work on the principle of a narrowly targeted action on the processes underlying the disease. At the same time, side effects on healthy cells are minimized. Such treatment can cost significantly more.
• Payment of rehabilitation expenses. Many expensive therapies turn out to be useless without long months of follow-up rehabilitation, which includes significant expenses for drugs and additional medical services. Sometimes rehabilitation costs several times more than the therapy itself.

Who cannot be insured?

But insurance companies are not ready to promise support and money to everyone. Their goal is to minimize their own risks. Therefore, not everyone can become a client under a critical illness insurance contract. The list of restrictions includes:

• Age. The potential client should not be older than 55 years.
• The presence of disability groups I-III associated with the presence of cancer or certain blood diseases. Disabled children also do not fall into the list of potential clients of insurance companies.
• Dispensary registration for cancer, blood diseases or HIV infection.
• Already existing oncological diseases or suspicious neoplasms that may turn out to be such.
• Imprisonment.
• The presence of diabetes.
• Previous severe heart and vascular diseases, as well as diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis B and C, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and terminal renal failure.
• Registration with a narcologist or psychoneurologist.
• The presence of venereal diseases.
• The presence of ailments potentially requiring organ or tissue transplantation.

Each company has its own list, but in most cases it includes the above conditions and ailments. Many of them are increased risk factors for the development of an insured event, so insurance companies immediately exclude this category of patients from the list of persons who can be paid insurance compensation. A striking example is myeloproliferative or myelodysplastic blood diseases. It's not cancer yet. But often they disguise malignant diseases. The situation is similar with already cured cancer - the risk of recurrence is too high, etc.

It should be understood that each company has its own programs and tariffs. For example, there are programs for insurance only against cancer, and there is the so-called general insurance, etc. In addition, when concluding a critical illness insurance contract, you need to be very attentive to every line of the document. Insurance companies have developed a strategy to protect themselves from scammers, but it greatly limits the rights and respectable citizens.

Insurance companies will refuse insurance payment if the disease specified in the insurance contract occurs in the following cases:

• suicide attempt;
• alcohol poisoning;
• deliberate actions of the patient;
• the presence of a mental disorder;
• natural disasters;
• military operations, including civil war, and the consequences of exposure to radiation (and a nuclear explosion in general);
• driving without a license or under the influence of alcohol;
• self-medication without a doctor's prescription;
• professional sports;
• imprisonment, etc.

In addition, there is a long list of exceptions - diseases and conditions, the presence of which makes the insured event invalid. They can be divided into two main groups:

• Ailments that, according to representatives of insurance companies, should be treated only in specialized public clinics. These are AIDS, some types of especially dangerous infections (for example, plague, anthrax, viral hemorrhagic fevers, smallpox, etc.), tuberculosis, etc.
• Diseases that affect the entire body and their treatment is closely related to the underlying disease. In addition, the listed ailments are chronic and practically incurable within the limits of the insurance contract. They require cyclical and expensive treatment. This list includes: HIV infection, chronic renal and hepatic insufficiency, various congenital anomalies and malformations, hepatitis, degenerative diseases of the nervous system, cerebral palsy, parkinsonism, etc. Some companies will not undertake to insure people with HIV in their blood at all .

This is not a complete list of exceptions, each company has its own, so you should carefully study situations in which you cannot count on the help of insurers.

When can you start to get sick?

But, even when purchasing a VHI policy, a person is not immediately under his protection. When concluding a critical illness insurance contract, a so-called temporary deductible is used. This means that you cannot buy a VHI policy and go to the hospital the next day with a heart attack or cancer. There is a certain period from the moment of conclusion of the contract when the insurer is still not responsible for the insured event - this time is also called the "waiting period".

For example, in one of the major insurance agencies, the waiting period for cancer and cardiac surgery problems (CABG, etc.) is six months. For diseases of the spine - a year, and for diseases of the joints - as much as 3 years. That is, having concluded such an agreement, you should not start to get sick during the period of a temporary franchise - you will not be able to get insurance.

Annual insurance premiums under such contracts start from 3,000 for children and from about 6,000 for an adult. Family insurance can cost half as much per person.

Considering the real cost of diagnosing, treating and rehabilitating critical illnesses, insurers' payouts are low. Depending on the completeness of the list of diseases and additional conditions, the payment will range from 300 thousand to 2 million rubles. And you need to understand that for an insurance company, the priority is not the health of the client, but the money saved. Therefore, of course, the company's lawyers will defend the reduction of the amount of payments in all possible ways.

Insurance companies pay money into the hands of their client, they themselves do not distribute insurance funds to doctors and clinics. The amount that will have to be paid annually depends on the terms of the contract and the company's tariffs. Insurance can be purchased for 3, 5, 7 or 10 years. The period that has passed since the conclusion of the contract also affects the amount of payments. The longer a person pays the insurance company and at the same time remains healthy, the more money he will receive in the event of an insured event.

• The service of insurance against critical illnesses is becoming more and more popular every year. But its active distribution is limited by numerous reservations of insurers, which can make insurance meaningless.
• It should be understood that it is not worth counting on full compensation for diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation in case of a critical illness - usually the costs are on average higher than the amount paid by the insurance company. But this money is a very significant part of them and can save the life of the patient.
• When concluding a contract of such a plan, one should be very careful in the process of reading its terms. Ideally, consult with a lawyer, because in the event of an insured event, it will be a matter of life and death, in the literal sense of the word.

Take the test Duke University scientists have created a small list of health indicators that ensure longevity. With statistical certainty, it can be argued that people with high scores can expect to live longer than average. Of course, a more accurate result can be obtained by supplementing the test with a complete medical examination, but an informal approach can also help you learn a lot about yourself. Try to answer the questions as honestly and objectively as possible.