(Everyone who can afford some kind of disability or dread disease cover should have it. However, not everyone needs life insurance. Do you have life cover, but no insurance against, for example, loss of income due to disease? Click here to learn if this is wise and whether you can possibly drop the life cover…)

Frightening statistics by the National Cancer Institute show that one in every eight women worldwide will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, with the number of cases growing each year. Equally concerning is the fact that the vast majority of women, including those in South Africa, still don’t have adequate health insurance in place to protect them should they develop this disease.

Commenting on the issue ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Dr Dominique Stott, business development executive at PPS Insurance, explains that women are often required to be financially independent out of necessity, and it is imperative that they have their own benefits in place in the event of a change in their health.

Women are poor purchasers of insurance

"On the whole women, even well-educated women, are notoriously poor purchasers of insurance — whether that is for life policies including dread disease, health or even in terms of investments and retirement annuities," says Dr Stott.

More effective treatments and earlier diagnoses (e.g. due to a wider use of mammograms), have seen the overall mortality rate from breast cancer continue to fall. However, survivors are often left with a financial burden that can take years to recover from," says Dr Stott.

Stott says it is important for women to know that there are insurance policies specifically available to protect people from this financial burden, arising from diseases such as breast cancer.

The advantage of dread disease cover

"The most common of these is a dread disease insurance policy. The advantage of a dread disease benefit is to help lessen the impact on the overall lifestyle changes of the policyholder and family members. Women in particular must be urged to review their financial planning and buy adequate dread disease cover in case of just such an eventuality," says Dr Stott.

Dread disease benefits vary according to the severity of the illness, and while many only pay out beyond 'Stage 0' breast cancer, as the survival rate is extremely high, some policies do also compensate women for the emotional distress and psychological impact of their treatment, such as a benefit for mastectomy.

"Although dread disease cover is not intended as a replacement for a medical aid, there may still be a deficit between medical aid coverage and the actual cost of any cosmetic procedures to lessen the psychological impact, towards which dread disease benefits can contribute. It must be remembered that even though a policyholder may also have a disability benefit, there is no guarantee that this will pay out. The degree of illness may not be regarded as significant enough to qualify for this type of benefit," says Dr Stott.

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