InsureCancer - QueensAward-Press Release

On the 21 April 2007 H.M. The Queen bestowed the country’s highest corporate honour ‘The Queen’s Award for Enterprise’ on InsureCancer and Medi TravelCover Ltd. in recognition of:

“Pioneering insurance underwriting innovation for those affected by cancer.”

Farnham based InsureCancer, a specialist provider of travel insurance to individuals with a diagnosis of cancer has been honoured by H.M. The Queen. The country’s highest corporate honour, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise was bestowed in recognition of the company’s insurance underwriting skills and unique contribution to the lives of those affected by cancer.

With the sole purpose of providing travel insurance to those affected by cancer Medi TravelCover is the only specialist cancer insurer in the UK. The company is able to offer cover to individuals with active, metastatic, relapsed or terminal cancer travelling to all destinations worldwide. In early 2007 Medi TravelCover Ltd adopted the trading style InsureCancer.

The lack of availability of travel insurance is the source of great frustration to cancer patients seeking to take a therapeutic holiday break. Two national charities, Breast Cancer Care and CancerBackup[1] have campaigned and published reports in 2006 highlighting the difficulties experienced by patients in finding travel insurance. In July 2006, 59 MPs signed an Early Day Motion[2] calling on insurance companies to help this sector of our community. This matter was again raised by the Shadow Health Secretary in the House of Commons in November 2006.

In this challenging context, Medi TravelCover has developed a pioneering insurance risk assessment and underwriting methodology enabling the provision on travel insurance to individuals on active treatment for cancer including chemoradiotherapy. This innovative underwriting technique is responsive to all cancers and enables risk assessment by each treatment stage of the different chemotherapy protocols.

InsureCancer Director Dr. Krish Shastri said, “We are very proud that our commitment to help a very deserving sector of our community has received the endorsement of H.M. The Queen. Our ability to help most cancer patients is the result of an extraordinary partnership between insurance professionals and oncology clinicians. My thanks to the InsureCancer team and the consultants, nurses and clinical staff at the many oncology centres around the country who have shared our commitment to be different and to make a difference.

Medi TravelCover Ltd. was established in April 2002 with the sole purpose of providing travel insurance to individuals with cancer. The company adopted the trading style InsureCancer in early 2007 to better reflect its specialist services.

InsureCancer’s underwriting methodology is based on clinical fitness to travel and all patients must be travelling with the consent of their attending oncologist. The aim is to closely align insurance risk rates with clinical risk factors and the stability of the applicant’s condition by taking into account the applicant’s diagnosis and current clinical status in the context of the destination and duration of the planned trip. Hitherto, conventional approaches to underwriting individuals with cancer have been based on automated underwriting systems in a call centre environment. Please refer to ‘Recent cases’ on our website for a better understanding of the range of cases we are able help.

In November 2005 Medi TravelCover Ltd. was voted ‘Insurer of the Year’ at the International Travel Insurance Conference in Seville, Spain.

InsureCancer has relationships with over 200 hospitals in the UK and Ireland including adult and paediatric cancer centres in the UK. Although InsureCancer receives many enquiries from cancer patients worldwide including the USA, Australia and Europe, due to regulatory constraints InsureCancer is only able to offer travel insurance to the residents of the UK and Ireland. Medi TravelCover Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

In the UK there are over 1.2m people living with cancer and more than 5,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each week. One in three people will be affected by cancer and a quarter of all deaths in the UK are due to cancer.

There are more than 200 different types of cancer each with its own treatment. Lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancer account for more than half of all new cancer cases with over three quarters occurring in those over the age of 60. Although cancer in children is rare it affects about 1 in 500 children under the age of 15 and in the UK about five children are diagnosed with cancer each day. With rapid progress in the cancer research 70% of all children diagnosed with cancer will be treated successfully compared to only 30% forty years ago.

Dr. Krish Shastri
Director
InsureCancer
76 Crooksbury Road
Farnham, Surrey
GU10 1QD

D.Tel    :   01252 780192
Fax       :   01252 783698
Email    :   Krish.Shastri@InsureCancer.com

[1] Travel and cancer uncovered: A review of insurance for people travelling with cancer in the 21^st century. Cancerbackup, June 2006.

[2] House of Commons: Early Day Motion, 18.07.06 EDM 2601.