Star Health and Allied Insurance (SHAI) has introduced what it calls an industry-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 — ₹3 lakh and ₹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).

It offers lumpsum payout of half the entire sum insured soon after diagnosis of the disease. The policy also covers surgical, non-surgical as well as interventional treatment for non-cancer-related diseases, accident cover, etc., like regular medical insurance.

Premium amount for SCCG will vary from ₹12,250 (excluding tax) to ₹35,100 depending on the age and sum-insured.

“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 ₹4.73 lakh in the mid-1980s to ₹12 lakh now, and is expected to increase ₹15 lakh by 2020,” she added.

She pointed out that cancer was no longer a dreadful disease. Due to technology and continuing research, cancer treatment levels have moved from conservative/conventional to precision and personalised ones.

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