OREANDA-NEWS. October 07, 2013. IC Allianz and European Medical Center Group have performed market launch of a new unique voluntary medical insurance program enabling treatment of the oncological diseases traditionally excluded by insurers from VMI insurance coverage.

Developing the program, IC Allianz’s specialists took into account that treatment of oncological diseases in Russia is funded only as part of state guarantees program, and current potential of the state sector is insufficient for providing prompt medical treatment to all patients, while the cost of cancer treatment is very high, whether in Russia, or in any other country. In this respect, oncological diseases are not covered by VMI programs in the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, the experience gained by the developed countries shows that such diseases can be included in the insurance coverage, and the leading companies in the field of international medical insurance, for example, Allianz Worldwide Care, do cover this risk.

The new program of IC Allianz has been also developed as part of its VMI coverage, designed solely for corporate clients and, in essence, is a rider (extension) to the basic VMI program. Upon employer’s request and for an additional fee it may be included into the comprehensive VMI contract covering employees.

The insured accident is constituted by the application of the insured employee for medical assistance during the effective period of the insurance contract, in order to treat malignant oncological diseases which have for the first time arisen during the effective period of the insurance contract.

The list of the covered types of medical aid includes outpatient treatment and hospital treatment.
All medical aid is provided in one of Moscow’s best private medical institutions — the European Medical Center, including a multifunctional high-tech GЕМС hospital at 35 Schepkina Street.

The treatment includes surgical aid in various scope in accordance with medical indications, as well as postsurgical treatment: chemotherapy, hormonotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, port setting, and other types of indicated treatment.

Different types of treatment may be applied in various combinations and sequences — depending on the stage of disease, accompanying pathologies and treatment tolerance. The treatment plan is determined using the medical standards effective in the Russian Federation and taking into account the international experience, including NCCN protocols (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) — NCCN Guidelines for Treatment of Cancer by Site.

"In our country, oncology has always been a standard exclusion from the existing VMI insurance programs. We deemed it unfair that such powerful social security instrument as VMI is not used in solving the problem of aid to cancer patients, who often lack time and money to combat the disease. In this respect, oncological diseases are one of the most widespread and are most expensive in treatment. The risk of oncological disease may be included in the coverage under the life insurance contract — then the patient will receive a fixed lumpsum payment in case of such disease, but the organization and payment for the therapy will not be covered. Also an option is possible whereby a person will get help from a charity organization, or his or her employer will voluntarily bear the costs of treatment. However, such costs can not be predicted, just as we can not, unfortunately, help all of the patients. By including oncological diseases in the corporate medical insurance contracts, we make VMI coverage generally more relevant and a good alternative to the OMI and entitlement assistance programs. In case of an insured accident, any employee insured by the employer may be confident that he or she will not be left without high-tech therapy, which will be fully paid by the insurer and performed in line with robust international standards in full, as set forth in the insurance contract", commented Mr. Dmitry Popov, First Deputy CEO and Director for Medical Insurance at IC Allianz.

"The main difficulty in treatment of oncological diseases is the need to implement a multidisciplinary approach. Patients with malignant tumors are always treated by a team of numerous medical professionals, including oncologists, radiologists, chemotherapeutists, surgeons, radiotherapists, pathologists, and psychotherapists. The clinic which handles such a difficult task must have full potential at all stages of diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation of oncological patients. Oncology is an actively developing field of medicine. Each year, new medicines and new treatment and diagnostics methods emerge. It is very important that oncological patients be treated by modern and constantly training medical professionals. Early diagnostics of cancer is key to its treatment. For example, lung cancer (ranking among the top lethal oncological diseases) may be cured if diagnosed at early stages, while it is almost incurable at the stage of manifested clinical symptomatology. Cancer treatment is a long, difficult and, unfortunately, very expensive process. Throughout the world, oncological diseases are covered by medical insurance. Above all, it may be attributed to the high costs of comprehensive professional therapy and rehabilitation of oncological patients. The emergence in Russia, outside of the state guarantee system, of an insurance product allowing reimbursement of the patient’s expenses on oncological therapy will, on the one hand, significantly improve the chances of receiving high-quality and timely treatment, and, on the other hand, will give an impetus to the development of oncological centres in our country", notes Mr. Artyom Gapeev, CEO of European Medical Center Group (GEMC).

As regards the present healthcare system, IC Allianz experts see the development of the corporate VMI coverage, above all, as the gradual expansion of the list of covered diseases. Eventually, insurance programs will include coverage of such diseases which are presently excluded from the VMI policies — for example, diabetes. Ultimately, voluntary medical insurance in Russia shall come as close as possible to the coverage volume applied worldwide.