Some insurance companies are open to covering men with low-risk prostate cancer
But you've got to look for them
(Editor’s note: I brought up some insurance discrimination issues I faced in this recent newsletter edition. And I heard some interesting comments from you. Some have encountered insurance discrimination even though they only had low-risk prostate cancer Here’s a follow-up on some questions I asked today at webinar, co-sponsored today by Prostate Cancer Support Canada Coast to Coast and The Walnut Foundation.)
By Howard Wolinsky
Some insurance companies in the past five years have started to recognize that patients on active surveillance for Gleason 6 low-risk prostate cancer should not be penalized, a leading Canadian radiation oncologist told a webinar on February 22.
Danny Vesprini, MD, who heads the active surveillance program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said: When I started here 10 years ago, [insurance and prostate cancer] was a big issue.”
He said that he and his colleagues were put in a position of standing up for men on AS seeking disability insurance, life insurance, and travel insurance.
“We would try to convince the insurance companies to cover such men,” he said. “There's like no chance of them dying.”
He said the more savvy insurance carriers, such as those with lines in the travel insurance business, ask whether the men has been diagnosed in the past year with low-risk prostate cancer vs. those with metastatic cancer.
“A guy with the lowest prostate cancer [Gleason 6] is a very safe bet.” he said. “You can give that guy disability insurance. You can give that guy anything. Those things have changed.”
He urges men seeking insurance “go explore.”
“Differerent insurance companies have different policies,” Vesprini said. “I think the insurance companies are waking up to the fact that they're losing a lot of business, and they're losing a lot of safe business.”
Please comment if you’ve had any insurance issues or if your insurance accepted Gleason 6 without charging extra.