2005

It’s been over 5 years now since the John & Kathy Eck family became one of the 3 of every 4 families to be stricken with Cancer. The American Cancer Society states that Cancer eventually strikes 1 of every 3 people in their lifetime. Many of you saw the article in the Wichita Eagle telling of my wife’s participation in a ‘Clinical Trial’ for the treatment of Breast Cancer and we wish to thank you for your comments, get well wishes, cards, and prayers. Science and medicine have made wonderful advances in the treatment of cancer, and coupling this with Kathy’s great attitude through the treatment process it is over 5 years since the last treatment.

Almost each month, we get an advertisement in the mail telling us about a different Cancer Supplement policy. You probably receive many of the same advertisements. Although we both considered ourselves to be young, we bought a Cancer policy several years ago (hoping we’d never need to use the benefits). During the past years, we’ve met many other folks who, too, were afflicted with the disease. Some benefited from having a supplemental cancer policy, while others didn’t know it was available. With this letter, I want to let all of you know that supplemental cancer policies are available and to outline some of the substantial benefits they offer you.

First, if you already have a good group or individual major medical policy, the majority of the doctor and hospital charges for the cancer treatment, as with treatments for other sickness or injuries will be paid for by your insurance. The Cancer Society estimates that over $37 Billion is spent each year in the treatment and associated costs of this disease. Further, it is estimated that almost $69 Billion is additionally spent to pay for non-medical costs and is not covered by insurance. Such items as travel, food and lodging, child care, phone and additional household help, loss of income to pay the normal living expenses (car & home payments, utilities and school costs) are just some of the non-medical costs I’m referring to. Thankfully, survival rates are increasing daily due to the new drugs and chemicals being used, but they’re expensive. As the costs increase, insurance companies will and have begun to question the usage and how much they will pay. If you already have a good Cancer Supplement policy, congratulations on your foresight in protecting you and your loved ones. If you have a policy and are not sure if it’s a good one, keep reading to learn about the most important benefit you need to look for in a policy. If you haven’t thought about needing this type of insurance protection, please consider buying a policy for yourself and your family. Some types of insurance seem expensive and are expensive. A cancer supplement policy isn’t! As most of you know, the ECK Agency offers every type of insurance available. Considering all types of insurance, we truly believe the cancer supplement policy offers the most amount of needed dollars for the least amount of premium. You just do not want to ever be diagnosed with cancer without enough money to do whatever it takes to treat the disease. The money won’t always fix it, but it goes a long way to reduce stress.

Policies offer many benefits such as a daily amount of dollars for hospital confinement, private duty nursing, transportation and lodging, surgery expenses, anesthesia, ambulance, some experimental treatments and [chemotherapy and radiation]. The last two items [chemotherapy and radiation] are the benefits you need to check out if you already have a policy. Most all policies being offered today are severely limiting the benefits being paid for these two expenses. The brochure and the salesperson often imply that the amount of benefit is ‘unlimited’ for [chemo and radiation], but as you read the policy, in most cases you’ll see there may be a per day amount limit such as $200 - $300 maximum. From personal experience, we’ve been billed $2,100 per treatment for chemotherapy and $684 per treatment for radiation. A policy offering a limited per day benefit means you may not have a very good policy considering that over half of medical costs for the treatment today is for chemotherapy and radiation. A new form of chemotherapy being heralded as the newest treatment is estimated to cost almost $40,000 per treatment. A Cancer Supplement policy pays money ‘direct to you’ when you need it the most, and in addition to any payments made by your primary health insurance policy. It can be a lot of money to help pay for a lot of bills.

Recently, I received information from ‘Discover Card Services’ about a new cancer supplement program they were recommending to their cardholders. The price seemed OK and the benefits seemed OK, until I read the fine print. Believe it or not, the benefit for chemotherapy and radiation was limited to a lifetime maximum of $1,667 total. Another company which says it insures 41 Million folks worldwide now offers a policy with a maximum of $300 per day for the high priced [chemotherapy & radiation] treatment.

I personally recommend that each of you own this supplemental insurance protection. It’s inexpensive and I hope you never need to use it. 

 Individuals:  Age 18-44 $24.29; Age 45-49 $42.44; Age 60-74 $56.79

If you have an interest in knowing more about the benefits and costs for you or your family, there are lots of ways to contact us: Our same office toll free # is still 800-444-4911, complete the bottom and fax to 620-254-7555, e-mail us at john@eckagency.com. , or contact your personal agent at the ECK Agency .

Thank you for reading this and for considering this valuable protection.

Contact us for your personal rates & benefits.

P. John Eck

I’m Interested.

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