Insurance Center

COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 12

In a survey employees that are covered under their employer's health insurance plan, it was found that fully half don't have a clear understanding of what their health insurance coverage with regard to cancer related medical expenses treatment is. This is include in the findings of a recent nationwide survey of 1,067 full-time employees who have health insurance coverage. The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive under contract with the Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company.

The survey's findings show that of those employees surveyed, 51 percent say that they don't have a clear comprehension of how their health insurance coverage deals with cancer-related treatments. When those surveyed were asked if they or a family member were diagnosed with cancer, would their health insurance coverage apply to the majority of the expenses, 6 percent said no while 40 percent said that they didn't know.

Colonial Life's senior vice president of marketing and branding, Tom Gilligan, says that the reported responses underscore the confusion employees experience when it comes to understanding what their health insurance coverage actually is. He adds that in general employees like to assume that there are covered, but when the issue in question is cancer, no one can really be 100 percent certain.

When asked if they had a clear understanding of what your health insurance covers when it comes to cancer treatment, the survey found that about half of employees, without regard to gender, age or location of residence, responded that they understood what their health insurance coverage for cancer treatment was.

Of those responding, 53 percent of the women and 49 percent of the men said that they didn't have a clear understanding. With regard to age, 59 percent of employees age 35- 44 say they didn't have a clear understanding. This was followed by employees in the age group 18-34 (56 percent), then those employees age 45-54 (43 percent) and finally employees age 55 and older (38 percent). With respect to area of residence, 56 percent of employees who took the survey living in the Northeast say that they do not have a clear understanding of their health benefits, followed by employees in the West at 53 percent, the Midwest at 49 percent, and the South at 47 percent.

When survey respondents were asked if their health insurance coverage included most of your medical expenses if you or a family member were diagnosed with cancer, the survey found similar responses across gender, age and region of residence in the country. In this case 35 percent of men say they don't know if their health insurance covers cancer-related expenses, and 46 percent of women said say they didn't know. By age grouping, the highest percentage of respondents who don't know if their health insurance would cover cancer-related expenses is in the 18-34 age group with 47 percent saying they don't know. For those in the 35 to 45 age group, 43 percent don't know and the figure is 32 percent for the 45-54 age group, and 29 percent for those 55 and older. As regards area of residence, respondents from different geographic regions don't show big variances, with 42 percent of those living in the Northeast saying they don't know, 38 percent of those in the Midwest, and 36 percent of those living in the South. For those living in the Western part of the country, the figure is 43 percent saying that they don't know.