We talk a lot about financial cost’s associated with Critical Illnesses. No Critical Illness is more costly today than Cancer! It is so costly that a 2018 article in AARP Magazine lists the experts you should see if diagnosed with cancer:
- A Medical Specialist
- A Money Manager
Surprisingly option 2 might give you a better chance of surviving the disease with both your health and wealth! Not only are Cancer patients 2.5 times more likely to declare bankruptcy as healthy people but – Cancer patients who go Bankrupt are 80% more likely to die from the disease. (Study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle)
“For many patients when they get the bills, it can be as bad as some of the side effects of the disease or the treatment” – Gary Lyman MD
Life Insurance that can Save your Life:
New Cancer drugs emerge routinely, but with new hope comes more cost: 11 of the 12 cancer drugs approved by the FDA in 2012 were priced more than $100,000 and usually are not yet approved by Health Insurance Companies. The best treatment is often the newest and because of that it costs the most.
Nobody wants to put a cost on their own life, but new cancer treatments can put that idea in prospective. Yousuf Zafar MD at Duke University and his team coined a phrase “financial toxicity”. This term describes the dire health impact of the soaring costs of cancer treatment. Although unsure when exactly his team begun using this phrase, he insists it is a term whose time had come.
Many times, patients are afraid that if they discussed their financial fears with their doctor’s, it could negatively affect their treatment. Kaiser Permanente adopted a “level of distress” questionnaire to help caregivers explore 37 possible stressors, including “religious concerns” and “sexuality/fertility”. However, the top 8 are all financial concerns such as housing, bills, and employment. This demonstrates clearly medical costs are only the beginning. Cancer patients must also grapple with the loss of income during several months to years of treatment and recovery, plus any expenditures for travel and lodging at a cancer health facility.
Why am I telling you all this depressing information? The answer is simple. You can prevent this suffering! Currently we sell Health Insurance to our clients and stop there (In many cases). If we continue to do things in this matter our clients could be one the statistics, I discussed above. However, if you make a change and present Life with Living Benefits on each of your sales – you may save the lives of many of the people you work with each day. Not only will you save lives, but you will change your life as well by greatly increasing your income.
ACA has changed many things in our industry. Some have been good such as Guarantee Issue and Subsidy’s paying most people’s monthly premium payments. However, others such as lowered commissions to agents are not so wonderful if you make you’re income primarily selling only Health Insurance.
Take the time this month and quote each prospect a Life with Living Benefits policy. That extra Five-minute discussion could save their life and avoid big financial mess for their families.