In the current benefits world, Dental insurance is largely an employer-paid product, while cancer insurance is a voluntary product. My question is…Why? Perhaps, the reason is the lack of a thorough thinking and evaluation process. If you look at it with an open mind, cancer insurance should be an employer-paid product exactly as Dental insurance is. Allow me to explain why.
When evaluating the risks to your business or client of an employee, contracting cancer versus needing a dental procedure, which one has the greater business disruption risk, HR risk, financial risk, health risk and psychological risk? Let's evaluate each one of these.
First, what sets cancer apart is the combination of frequency and costs associated with the disease. Consider the following.
- Cancer affects 1 in 2 women; and 1 in 3 men in the U.S.(Medical News Today).
- Cancer patients are 71% more likely to have bills in collection or foreclosure (NPR).
- Cancer patients were 2.5 times more likely to declare bankruptcy; and those who went bankrupt were more likely to die from the diseases (NPR).
- NCI estimated the average cost of cancer in the year following diagnosis was $42,000 (NPR/NCI).
Cancer is devastating to employees and their financial situations have the potential to affect employers and stress and anxiety can directly impact productivity. On the other hand, while having serious dental issues is uncomfortable and disrupting, people don't declare bankruptcy because of them. Given this, which one has the greater potential to cause business disruption to your company if an employee goes without coverage? Cancer, of course. In fact, studies show that up to 53% of cancer survivors lose their jobs or quit working during or after treatment (Mehnert) – so the business has to replace and retrain for that position – perhaps even a key leader. If cancer causes the larger business disruption, shouldn't that be an employer-paid benefit, just as dental is?
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