Queen’s Award
- 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.”
PRESS RELEASE
23 April 2007
London
InsureCancer & MediTravelCover Ltd.
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.
FACT SHEET
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.
For further information:
Dr. Krish Shastri
Director
InsureCancer
76 Crooksbury Road
Farnham, Surrey
GU10 1QD
D.Tel : 01252 780192
Email : Krish.Shastri@InsureCancer.com
www.MediTravelCover.com
T: 01252 782392
www.InsureCancer.com
T: 01252 780190
[1] Travel and cancer uncovered: A review of insurance for
people travelling with cancer in the 21st century.
Cancerbackup, June 2006.
[2] House of Commons: Early Day Motion, 18.07.06 EDM 2601.
END
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: Innovation.
“Pioneering insurance underwriting innovation for
those affected by cancer”
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01252 780 190
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