New findings will enhance doctors’ ability to treat cancer and determine best treatments.*
Most Americans who are diagnosed with cancer will survive. New research like this continually improves the survival rate.
Jesse Slome, director of the American Association of Critical Illness Insurance
Genetic data will improve cancer outcomes
Researchers at the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine are using genetic data to enhance how doctors treat cancer. The findings can help determine which treatments will work best for individual patients.
“The researchers’ findings can help estimate how a patient will do based on various factors,” explains Jesse Slome. Slome is director of the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance (AACII).
The scientists found that adding a single genetic predictor can improve the predictive ability by 5% to as much as 30%. The approach represents a major step forward in doctors’ efforts to tailor treatments specifically to the individual’s needs and genetic makeup says said University of Virginia’s Anindya Dutta, MBBS, PhD..
According to the researchers, the findings offer answers to questions that have long perplexed doctors. They noted that two patients can show exactly the same cancer receive the same treatment. “One of them does very well, and the other one doesn’t,” Dr. Dutta said in a report appearing in Science Daily. “The assumption has always been that there is something about the two that we didn’t understand, like maybe there are some tumor-specific mutations that one patient had but the other did not. But it occurred to us that with all this genomic data, there is another hypothesis that we could test.”
In 2020 over 1.8 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer according to the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance. “Most Americans who are diagnosed with cancer will survive. New research like this continually improves the survival rate,” Slome says. “But surviving cancer often takes a huge financial toll on the individual and their family.”
Most people diagnosed with cancer today survive
“You are likely to survive a cancer diagnosis. But you’ll take time off from work to undergo testing, treatment and recover,” Slome shares. “Will you continue to be able to work or will you need to deplete your savings to pay rent or mortgage costs? What about health care costs that are not covered by your insurance?”
Consider a modest cancer only insurance policy that can provide $10,000 to as much as $25,000 immediately following a qualifying cancer diagnosis. “Today, costs for someone in their 40s can cost as little as $10 a month,” Slome notes. The Association provides an instant Cancer Insurance Cost Calculator on their website.
Cancer-only insurance can provide a lump sum cash payment immediately following a cancer diagnosis. Read tips that explain important ways to compare and get the best critical illness insurance quotes.
Tips for cancer and critical illness insurance planning
First of all, the Association recommends all men and women over 40 read more about what is critical illness insurance?
Secondly, use the Association’s instant critical illness insurance cost calculator to see an instant estimate of costs for cancer-only insurance coverage.
Thirdly, cancer is only one health risk. Consider a more comprehensive insurance policy that can pay benefits for multiple critical illnesses.
Fourthly, read tips to better compare critical illness insurance coverage. Significantly there are differences between policies. Therefore the helpful tips can save you money.
* Science Daily, March 30, 2020
Equally important, here are additional tips for consumers.
Firstly, learn more about long-term care insurance if you are between 50 and 60. Visit the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance website for information.
Secondly, adults turning 65 can find Local Medicare Agents using the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance‘s free online lookup.
Thirdly, learn about stroke signs and symptoms.
Fourthly, learn more about cancer risks.
Finally, try to live a more healthy lifestyle. Undeniably it’s the most important thing you can do.
