Cost Of Critical Illness Scarier Than Death
The U.S. business group of
In a release, the company noted that the report found that many workers feared the financial impact of a critical illness even more than dying from one. Such concerns may be driven by a rise in out- of-pocket health care costs, as employer-sponsored health plans require workers to shoulder an ever-rising share of medical costs.
To highlight this trend,
"Our findings suggest that benefits brokers and HR decision makers might especially want to consider offering critical illness and cancer insurance if their employee base contains a significant group of women, workers age 40 to 50, or singles," said
According to the
-Half of all workers, especially women and younger workers, cite cancer as their most dreaded critical illness.
-Most workers age 40 to 50 fear the financial impact of a critical illness more than they fear death, especially single workers, single women, and single parents.
-Of workers age 22 to 39, most single parents and single women earning under
-Most workers in the transportation, utility, business/ professional services, and manufacturing industries fear the financial impact of a critical illness more than they fear death.
Other key findings:
-Over one-third (36 percent) of workers believe they have critical illness coverage, when industry estimates suggest that under 5 percent of the U.S. workforce actually have critical illness insurance coverage.
-Two-thirds (66 percent) of workers who personally experienced a critical illness had to make financial sacrifices to meet uncovered medical or non-medical costs, despite owning health insurance.
-Over one third (37 percent) of workers who survived a critical illness found themselves out of work for four months or longer.
-Tapping emergency funds or dipping into long-term savings were the most common financial sacrifices made by workers who experienced a critical illness.
-12 percent of workers who experienced a critical illness declared bankruptcy and 11 percent lost their homes.
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Copyright: | (c) 2013 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |
Source: | Proquest LLC |
Wordcount: | 567 |
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