Insurer warns that UK will have to find new ways of treating the disease
Bupa is warning that the cost of cancer claims is rising at twice the rate of all other areas of treatment, accounting for 16.3% of total spending in 2010 compared to 14.4% in 2006.
In a report published today (based on research conducted by healthcare analysts Laing & Buisson) the insurer sets out its projections for cancer spend in 2021 and estimates that the private sector will have to increase funding by 65% - a £531m increase.
It is the latest in a series of warnings from Bupa that the cost of private healthcare, and thus private medical insurance (PMI) is increasing and that the sector must change in order to avoid pricing customers out of the market.
"Historically, over several decades, health insurance customers – both companies and individuals – have been willing to continue to pay for health insurance despite medical inflation costs running higher than general economy inflation," the report notes. "However, the 2008 recession led to a reduction in health insurance coverage and demand may continue to be fragile until economic conditions improve."
New approaches 'urgently needed'
The report notes that the cost of diagnosing and treating cancer (in the NHS as well as the private and voluntary sectors) in the UK is likely to rise by 62% by 2021. It estimates that the average cost of treating someone diagnosed with cancer will rise from £30,000 in 2010 to almost £40,000.
It argues that new approaches are "urgently needed" to avoid a £5.9bn shortfall.
Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, managing director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing said: "It is not just about finding new resources to meet the challenge. The public, private and voluntary sectors will also need to reassess how and where cancer patients can best be treated to ensure that the available resources are spent in ways that can maintain or improve outcomes more efficiently. By looking at the cost of cancer over the next decade it is clear that, for all of us involved in healthcare, innovation will be necessary."
The report identifies three ways in which cancer services could be reformed, including making it easier for people to transfer between public and private facilities more easily - something which consultancy Mercer has highlighted as a challenge for insured patients at the moment.
Bupa also suggests that out-of-hospital care should be a standard choice for patients where clinically appropriate. Bupa Home Healthcare is currently a major provider of chemotherapy delivered in the homes of patients, both private and NHS.
Another suggestion is to fund tests to identify which drugs are appropriate for individual patients. Health Insurance recently highlighted that one test (Oncotype DX), designed to help identify whether breast cancer patients are likely to benefit from chemotherapy, was not readily available to NHS or insured patients. Bupa says in this latest report that it is funding the test for members.