CIt is often said that someone has insurance in the hope of never having to use it. It’s the security of having a pillow for any eventuality. This is also true in health, and despite Portugal having a public, universal and generally free NHS, the number of people insured in this field has increased.
I have cancer and then what? SIC Notícias and Expresso launched a website — www.tenhocancroedepois.pt — dedicated to cancer. The platform’s objective is to collect the opinion of doctors, patients and specialists on the challenges of a disease that affects more and more people. The project has the support of Novartis and Germano de Sousa, in addition to the collaboration of the Brazilian League against Cancer and the Brazilian Society of Oncology. It is supported by sponsors, with all content created, edited and produced by Expresso (see online code of conduct), without external interference.
According to this year’s report from the Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS), the number rose to 3.6 million, 4% more than the number recorded a year earlier. The president of APS, José Galamba de Oliveira, explains that “expenses paid by insurers for oncological diseases totaled over €76 million in 2022, which represents an increase of 84% compared to 2018”.
However, the executive admits that “policy capitals are generally low — especially those for company insurance — and are not keeping up with the evolution of the cost of some treatments”, such as oncology. For example, “in 2022, the average hospital admission capital corresponded to €41 thousand, but in group insurance it was even lower, at €35 thousand”. This is “a concern that insurance companies have tried to pass on to policyholders, that of the adequacy of the capital limit of policies, even though they understand the budget restrictions of companies and families”.
At Médis, the “offers to new oncological realities” are adequate, recalls Nuno Gomes Duarte, director of Offer and Product Management at the Ageas Portugal Group, for whom “it is essential to ensure transparency in the communication of available products, in order to guarantee that customers understand well the protection they acquire. There are different solutions adjusted to different needs, and with different costs”, he concedes.
High costs
According to an official Multicare source, “it is important to emphasize that only insurance with robust capital can cover the full treatment of the disease, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The entire diagnostic component, with more advanced technologies and the need for treatments to be carried out more frequently, results in high costs”, he highlights, with the example of “cases that, between diagnosis, treatment and prolonged hospitalization, reached costs in the order of € 400 thousand”.
For the CEO and founder of the Future Healthcare Group, José Pina, “we cannot forget the role that insurance has in accessing an easier and faster diagnosis in the first phase” especially when “there may be a delay in accessing the SNS”. The biggest impediment is “clearly a question of financing and financial capacity” of the population to “acquire coverage”, so it may be relevant to “think about fiscal solutions that allow the acquisition of insurance” with more comprehensive valences if people so wish. Everything in a logic of complementarity, especially because “the role of the SUS is fundamental”.
In the opinion of Lúcia Alves, president of the Portuguese Association for the Support of Women with Breast Cancer, the reality is that “in the case of cancer that requires many sessions”, in most insurance policies the “limits run out quickly and patients go end up in the public eye.” To this end, coverage is necessary “the prices of which are not accessible to the majority of the population”.
“There are countless patients who are treated without insurance and who are treated well. I wouldn’t say that having insurance is essential”, points out the lawyer at the Portuguese League Against Cancer, Carla Barbosa. They may be important to “carry out an exam or treatment” more quickly, but it is an analysis that can only be done “case by case”, he argues, to speak of a “divided responsibility” between the “obligation to see the we are hiring” and that the conditions are well explained to make an informed decision.
3 questions to
Daisy Cruz
General Director Believe
“Good coordination between systems would be advisable”
How necessary is health insurance to deal with an oncological disease?
Having health insurance is today, when the NHS fails, especially with response times, absolutely essential, and cancer is no exception.
How do you look at the financial issue? Is there discrimination?
Insurance is not very affordable especially if it has comprehensive coverage and capital. There is guaranteed to be discrimination in hiring. But not in subsequent payments, as long as it is clear that the illness occurred during the full validity of the insurance.
Is there a need for more coordination between SUS, insurance and private?
It would be advisable to have good articulation between systems that would allow for an adjusted response. For this, the insurance response and the guarantees offered are very important.
