Cancer Cover: Why Your ₹10 Lakh Policy Won’t Pay the Rent in Mumbai
Treatment costs for Indian cancer patients now outrun most insurance sums by 2-3× once travel, rent and lost wages are counted. Smart record-keeping of every forgotten rupee is no longer optional.
A decade ago, a ₹5 lakh health plan felt heroic. Today it barely covers the first chemo cycle. On World Cancer Day, the numbers landed like a slap: early-stage care already clocks ₹5–7 lakh, while the nasty variants sprint past ₹30 lakh. And that, dear reader, is just the hospital bill. The rent for a shoebox flat near Tata Memorial, the flights back home for a child’s exams, the income that evaporates when both parents become full-time carers—none of it is covered by your shiny ‘comprehensive’ policy. If you’re still filing expenses on the back of boarding passes, don’t be shocked when the insurer short-changes you. The devil is in the missing receipts.
The ₹30 Lakh Mirage
Care Health’s claims ledger reads like a war bulletin. Breast, blood, pancreatic—each can breach a ₹25 lakh sum insured before the patient finishes a single course of radiation. Siddharth Singhal at Policybazaar warns the real impact “extends far beyond hospital costs.” Translation: your insurer won’t buy you dinner in Mumbai, let alone pay the mortgage back in Lucknow.
What the Brochure Never Mentions
- Targeted therapy: ₹2–3 lakh per month for six months.
- Molecular profiling: ₹1.5 lakh upfront—non-negotiable.
- Relocation: ₹25,000 a month for a one-room dive in Parel.
- Lost income: one salary down, sometimes two.
Add them up and the total damage is 2.5–3 times the quoted treatment cost. Suddenly that ₹15 lakh cover looks like bringing a brolly to a monsoon.
The Receipts That Pay for Themselves
Here’s where the middle-class mantra of “I’ll claim it later” turns toxic. Every unlogged cab ride, every uncaptured pharmacy bill is money left on the hospital floor. When insurers demand proof, nostalgia won’t suffice. Snap the invoice now or kiss the refund goodbye.
“The overall financial impact of cancer can be 2.5–3 times the direct treatment cost.” — Vishwa Savla, Pinnacle Life Science
The same rule applies to any critical-illness rider you were smart enough to buy. Payouts hinge on paperwork. Miss a date, misplace a signature, and the buffer you paid for evaporates.
A Three-Second Habit
I’ve started using ccKlay every time I spend a rupee that might, one day, be scrutinised by a claims clerk. Photograph the receipt, AI pulls the date, GST number and amount, and the line item is stored before the kettle boils. No IT department, no colour-coded spreadsheets—just me thumbing a phone while the chemo drip beeps. When the insurer asks for a consolidated PDF, I export and email. Done.
Riders, Top-Ups and Other White Lies
Insurers flog cancer-specific plans that promise 20% on early diagnosis, 100% when things turn grim. Lovely—except the small print demands pathology reports signed by two separate oncologists and a haiku from the patient’s mother. Meanwhile, the rent is still due.
A ₹1 crore top-up sounds reassuring until you realise the deductible alone is ₹10 lakh. Sell the flat, break the fixed deposit, then we’ll talk. The industry’s answer to every shortfall is “buy more cover,” but premiums race ahead of wages faster than a Delhi ambulance.
Keep the Cash Flow Alive
The brutal truth: most families implode financially in month four. Liquidity beats generosity. Staggered payouts from LIC or ICICI Prudential help, yet they arrive only after the battle is half lost. The only cash you truly control is the money you can prove you’ve already spent. Receipts are petty, yes; petty cash keeps the lights on.
My Rulebook for the New Normal
- Photograph every bill before you leave the shop.
- Tag it—medical, travel, food, lodging—while the memory is fresh.
- Export monthly; send the PDF to yourself and a trusted sibling.
- Never rely on hospital finance desks to do it for you; they’re too busy chasing their own dues.
Do it for the cancer you hope you’ll never have, the heart attack you’re statistically due, or the appendix that might burst next Tuesday. The claim you forget to file today is tomorrow’s iPhone—every single year.
Source: World Cancer Day: How much insurance is enough for cancer treatment?