ICICI Pru launches Cancer Care

Mumbai: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance today launched a comprehensive insurance product exclusively designed for cancer conditions and recovery. The product, branded 'Cancer Care', has been designed to cater to men and women and is consistent with the forms of cancer that affect each of the genders. The unique feature of the product is that it begins payments at the time of diagnosis of the condition, ensuring that the patient and his or her family have the finances to see them through the illness, right up to recovery.

Speaking at the launch, Shikha Sharma, managing director and CEO, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, "Cancer Care is a unique offering amongst health insurance products available today, and is an important addition to ICICI Prudential's already sizeable and market-leading life and pensions business." The introduction of Cancer Care marks not only the company's, but the industry's first product innovation designed for a specific type of illness.

"Over the past five years, we have seen an increasing incidence of cancer amongst Indians. However, the survival rate in India is lower than that in developed countries, despite the availability of the latest medical treatments. While early detection is key in the battle for surviving cancer, we also realised that the one of biggest gaps is adequate financial resources, and it is to fill this gap that we have introduced Cancer Care," continued Ms. Sharma.

ICICI Prudential's Cancer Care makes cash payments to cover the direct as well as ancillary expenses that are associated with cancer treatments. While direct expenses include those for diagnosis, treatment (which typically spans several months), and surgery; ancillary expenses are those associated with travel and stay in a specialist hospital, loss of income during treatment and recovery, continuing medicines, etc.

Features of Cancer Care:

• Cover for cancers of lung, breast, cervix, ovary, blood, thyroid, skin, prostate, oesophagus, stomach, larynx, hypopharynx, head and neck, liver, pancreas, large bowel, bladders, brain, kidney, lymphoma and Hodgkin's Disease.
  
• Unlike other products, Cancer Care also makes payments in the early stages of cancer of breast, cervix, colon, urinary bladder etc, in recognition that early detection and adequate financial resources are the keys to a high chance of survival.
  
• Payment of benefit at the time of diagnosis, and independent from any other medical insurance plan
  
• Cover up to Rs10 lakh for cancer, for a premium as low as Rs250 per month
  
• Tax benefits u/s 80D of the Income Tax Act.

Cancer Care can be bought for a coverage amount between Rs5 and 25 lakh. However the premium for women, who constitute a higher risk category than men, is higher — while a 30-year old man can buy a Rs10 lakh cover upto the age of 65 years for a premium of Rs 3,310 per annum, a woman would have to pay Rs5,580.

Cancer care is ICICI Prudential's third health insurance product this year since the launch of Health Assure and Health Assure Plus in February 2006. Both products offer cover against six critical illnesses including stroke, cancer, organ transplant, heart attack, etc.