Cancer can hit anyone – do you have the right insurance?

Cancer can hit anyone, what would you do if it happened to you?

Nikki Kaye is fortunate enough to be a Minister of Parliament (MP) where they can just keep paying her for a while, and on her higher income she will hopefully have built up a decent buffer.

But should it progress, she may eventually need to stop working and will have additional costs (even if it’s just getting to and from hospital and the doctor).

This is something we assume only ‘old’ people get, or the rare unlucky person, but cancer can hit anyone, and the difference in your financial survival will be the preparation you do well before being diagnosed.

For most people, they cannot survive for long without spare funds.

This is where good trauma cover comes into the picture and income protection.

Trauma cover pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with cancer.  All the policies have levels you have to be at before a claim, though the good policies have an early pay-out for a lower level diagnosis.

This lump sum can be used to reduce or pay off your mortgage or other debt, cover your additional medical costs, allow another family member to take leave without pay (by replacing their income), and then take a trip when you recover to get over the stress (which will be big, especially on the kids).

Income protection replaces your regular income while you cannot work.  Think of ACC but for illness (ACC does not cover illnesses).

This will help you to pay your bills and lifestyle while you cannot work.

Now there is a huge variance in the quality of products in the market, which the banks typically having the worst of them.  The quality is defined by how easily they will pay out to you, and the ancillary benefits.

This is where advice comes into it.

We all think that either we won’t be diagnosed or if we do, we will only have a mild cancer that we recover from immediately and with no flow on effects to family.

Having sat across the table from clients who have been diagnosed I can tell you that even the diagnosis is hugely stressful, let alone what the financial impact will be (and this is for clients who have insurance).

It will be much better for you and your family if you have the right risk protection.  It may not be as much as you need, but whatever you have will help.

Hopefully Nikki Kaye got the right advice and got the right insurances she needs to complement the deal that MPs will have, well before she needed it.  Do you have the right risk plan?