Copyright © 2007-2018 Medi TravelCover Ltd
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
Fax : 01252 783698
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 2007.
“Pioneering insurance underwriting innovation for
those affected by cancer”
Queen’s Award
Press Release