Cancer, Heart Attack and Stroke Insurance

Every benefit below is transcribed from GTL Cancer, Heart Attack and Stroke brochure ADH09-16 (Rev. 1/24) 15B425. Benefits, amounts and riders vary by state; the policy issued to you governs.

• Lump sum cancer benefit Included

  A lump sum paid directly to you on a positive diagnosis of cancer as defined in the policy, up to $50,000, regardless of any other coverage you hold. Includes a 25% benefit for cancer in situ.

• Lump sum heart attack and stroke benefit Included

  A lump sum paid directly to you on a heart attack or stroke as defined in the policy, up to $50,000. Can be bought alongside the cancer policy or on its own.

• Experimental treatment benefit Included

  An extra 25% of your lump sum if you undergo a qualifying experimental treatment approved or endorsed by the FDA or the National Institutes of Health while being treated for cancer.

• Benefit builder rider Optional rider

  Adds benefits on top of the base lump sum, including an increase for certain cancers and coverage for transient ischemic attack.

Issue ages

18 to 90, with a child rider available

Renewability

Guaranteed renewable for life

Pre-existing conditions

A pre-existing condition is one for which medical advice or treatment was recommended or received within the 24 months before your effective date, or for which symptoms existed that would cause an ordinarily prudent person to seek care in that period.

Policy form

G1530, G1531. Rider forms RG15CBB. Form numbers and benefits vary by state.

Every benefit below is transcribed from ManhattanLife Cancer and/or Heart and Stroke brochure CHAS-BR 0525. Benefits, amounts and riders vary by state; the policy issued to you governs.

• Cancer diagnosis Included

  Pays 100% of the cancer benefit amount as a lump sum on diagnosis.

• Heart attack, stroke or heart transplant Included

  Each pays 100% of the heart and stroke benefit amount as a lump sum.

• Coronary artery bypass, aortic surgery, heart valve surgery Included

  Each pays 25% of the heart and stroke benefit amount.

  A partial payment draws down the remaining benefit amount rather than sitting alongside it.

• Angioplasty or a stent Included

  Each pays 10% of the heart and stroke benefit amount.

  A partial payment draws down the remaining benefit amount rather than sitting alongside it.

• The policy pays once unless you add the recurrence rider Included

  Once the heart and stroke benefit amount has been paid in full, coverage terminates and nothing further is payable. The carrier's own claims example shows a stroke paying the full lump sum and a heart attack six months later paying nothing.

  This is the reason the restoration rider exists. Read both before deciding it is not worth the premium.

• Cancer Recurrence Rider Optional rider

  Pays again on a later cancer diagnosis, scaled by how long has passed: nothing under 2 years, 25% at 2 to under 5 years, 50% at 5 to under 10 years, and 100% at 10 years or more.

• Heart and Stroke Restoration Rider Optional rider

  Restores the benefit for a later event, scaled by how long has passed: nothing under 2 years, 25% at 2 to under 5 years, 75% at 5 to under 10 years, and 100% at 10 years or more.

• The money is yours Included

  Benefits are paid directly to you, not to a hospital, and there is no restriction on what you spend them on.

Cancer and/or Heart and Stroke on its own page, with its own enrollment link.

Issue ages

Ages 20 to 84. Individual, individual and spouse, one parent and family coverage are available.

Underwriting

A benefit amount from $5,000 to $75,000 is chosen at application, up to $75,000 for cancer and $75,000 for heart and stroke. The two policies can be bought together or separately.

Pre-existing conditions

A 30 day waiting period applies before benefits are payable.

Policy form

AK7029, AK7030. Rider forms AK7029CR, AK7030RR. Form numbers and benefits vary by state.

Every benefit below is transcribed from ManhattanLife Critical Protection and Recovery outlines of coverage OC-CI-A and OC-CI-B, with rates from CPR-BDR 0520, and from ManhattanLife Critical Protection and Recovery brochures CPR-BR 0520 (without cancer) and CPRC-BR 0520 (with cancer). Benefits, amounts and riders vary by state; the policy issued to you governs.

• Whether cancer is covered is your choice, and it changes everything Included

  Policy CI-B covers life threatening cancer. Policy CI-A does not cover cancer at all. Every other benefit, exclusion and limitation in the two outlines of coverage is identical. CI-A is meaningfully cheaper for that reason, and it is the wrong policy for anybody who assumed cancer was included.

  If you already hold a separate cancer policy, CI-A may be the sensible half of the pair. If you do not, read this line twice.

• First occurrence Included

  Pays the amount chosen — $5,000, $7,500, $10,000 or $20,000 — the first time in the covered person's lifetime they are diagnosed with end-stage renal failure, major third degree burns, paralysis, coma, heart attack or stroke, or undergo coronary artery bypass surgery or a major human organ transplant. On CI-B, life threatening cancer is on that list too.

  Limited to one first occurrence benefit per covered person.

• Reoccurrence, with no lifetime maximum Included

  After a first occurrence benefit has been paid, a reoccurrence pays half the first occurrence amount — and it pays every time, with no lifetime maximum, provided each reoccurrence is more than 365 days after the last payment.

  This is the opposite of a policy that terminates after one payment. Compare it against the other policies on this page before deciding which shape you want.

• Monthly income for a year Included

  Once a first occurrence benefit is paid, a tenth of it is paid every month for 12 months, starting a month after the event. On the $20,000 plan that is $2,000 a month for a year on top of the lump sum.

• Hospital confinement Included

  $300 for each day confined for treatment of a covered event, with no lifetime maximum. Confinement must be within 500 days of the most recent covered event.

• Ambulance Included

  $250 for ground and $1,000 for air, payable up to twice per covered event, within 180 days of it.

• Travel and lodging when treatment is not local Included

  50 cents a mile for your own car, or the cost of coach class travel, where a physician prescribes treatment more than 75 miles from home, limited to $1,500 per covered event. Lodging is paid at actual charges up to $70 a day for the covered person or one adult family member, for up to 15 days per event.

  Where the patient is an insured child and commercial travel is needed, the travel benefit covers up to two adults.

• There is a cheaper route through an employer Included

  The same product is also sold at the worksite, by certificate, with premiums taken from payroll — and those rates are lower than the individual rates. If you are an employer, or an employee whose workplace already offers it, ask us. What a worksite certificate covers is set by the group contract rather than by the individual policy described here, so get the certificate in front of you before comparing the two.

• Waiver of premium Included

  If the named insured is totally disabled for 60 days because of a covered event, premiums falling due during the disability are waived.

  The disability must begin before the policy anniversary following age 60, and the benefit does not apply to a spouse's or child's disability.

Critical Protection and Recovery on its own page, with its own enrollment link.

Issue ages

Ages 18 to 64 at issue, in individual, one parent family and two parent family cover. The policy is then guaranteed renewable for life.

Underwriting

The first occurrence amount is chosen at application: $5,000, $7,500, $10,000 or $20,000. Whether cancer is covered is also chosen at application, and it is the only difference between the two policies.

Renewability

Guaranteed renewable for life, subject to the company's right to change rates on all policies of this class in your state. The policy cannot be cancelled because of your health, your age, or how many times it has paid — only for non-payment of premium. There is a 31 day grace period, and 10 days from receiving the policy to return it for a full refund.

Pre-existing conditions

During the first 12 months, a specified health event caused by a pre-existing condition is not covered. After 12 months it is.

Policy form

CI-A, CI-B. Form numbers and benefits vary by state.

Every benefit below is transcribed from the Aetna Protection Series Cancer Plus outline of coverage CLICS04672NV (Nevada edition), for policy forms CLICCAN18 NV and CLICCANR18 NV, and from the Aetna Protection Series Cancer and Heart Attack or Stroke Plus brochure CLICS04742NV (Nevada edition), which is the only document we hold describing the heart attack and stroke policies, the Aetna Senior Supplemental Insurance company profile CGFMP08395, which states the A.M. Best rating and its date. Benefits, amounts and riders vary by state; the policy issued to you governs.

• A lump sum on diagnosis, paid to you Included

  The policy pays 100% of the benefit amount you chose, from $5,000 to $75,000 in $5,000 increments, directly to you or to someone you designate, regardless of any other health insurance coverage you hold.

  Waiting period: 30 days. Eligibility for benefits begins 30 days after the coverage effective date. There is also a 30 day free look: return the policy for any reason within 30 days of receiving it for a full refund of premiums paid.

• Cancer insurance Included

  Pays on a diagnosis of cancer or carcinoma in situ. Only one cancer benefit is paid for each insured person under the policy, and on the policy without the recurrence benefit coverage terminates for that person once it has been paid.

  Carcinoma in situ is covered at the same 100%, which is not true of every cancer policy — it is an early stage cancer confined to the site it started from, and some policies pay a fraction for it or nothing at all.

• Cancer insurance with the recurrence benefit Included

  The same lump sum, plus a further payment each time the insured is diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. The percentage paid depends on how long the insured went without medical advice or treatment before that diagnosis. 0% — nothing at all — if the recurrence comes less than 2 years after; 25% at 2 years or more but less than 5; 50% at 5 or more but less than 7; 75% at 7 or more but less than 9; and 100% at 9 years or more. The lifetime maximum is 100% of the recurrence benefit amount, so a part-paid recurrence leaves the remainder available for a later one and nothing beyond that.

  This is a third design on this page and it is worth comparing against the other two. It turns on time without treatment, so an early recurrence pays nothing where a long remission pays the lot.

• Heart attack or stroke insurance Included

  Pays 100% of the benefit amount you chose, from $5,000 to $75,000 in $5,000 increments, on a diagnosis of heart attack or stroke. Only one heart attack or stroke benefit is paid for each insured person under the policy.

  It is a separate policy from the cancer one. You can take a cancer plan, a heart attack and stroke plan, or one of each with different benefit amounts.

• Heart attack or stroke insurance with the recurrence benefit Included

  The same lump sum, plus a further payment on a subsequent heart attack or stroke, payable as long as at least two years have passed since the date of the last one. 0% — nothing at all — if the recurrence comes less than 2 years after; 25% at 2 years or more but less than 5; 50% at 5 or more but less than 7; 75% at 7 or more but less than 9; and 100% at 9 years or more. The lifetime maximum is 100% of the recurrence benefit amount, so a part-paid recurrence leaves the remainder available for a later one and nothing beyond that.

  Note the difference from the cancer version: this one measures two years since the last heart attack or stroke, where the cancer policy measures two years without medical advice or treatment. Somebody on continuing cancer treatment is not accruing that time.

• What “stroke” means here, and what it does not Included

  An acute cerebrovascular event caused by intra-cranial thrombosis or hemorrhage, or embolism from an extra-cranial source, with acute onset of new neurological symptoms and new objective neurological deficits on clinical examination, which persists for more than 30 days.

  A transient ischemic attack is excluded by name. So is brain damage from accident, injury, infection, vasculitis, inflammatory or demyelinating disease, vascular disease of the eye or optic nerve, vertebrobasilar insufficiency, an incidental finding on an imaging study, and an ischemic disorder of the vestibular system.

• A stent on its own does not pay Not covered

  A balloon angioplasty procedure, laser relief or other like procedure is excluded, and so is a cardiac arrest that is not caused by a heart attack. A heart attack here means an acute myocardial infarction resulting in the death of a portion of the heart.

  Worth comparing against Critical Protection and Recovery on this same page, which does pay a partial benefit for angioplasty and stents and draws the remaining benefit down when it does. Two products, opposite answers, one page.

• Who it can cover, and what happens to them later Included

  Individual, individual and spouse or domestic partner, individual and children, and family. The same lump sum benefit amount applies to each covered person. Children aged 18 to 26 and divorced spouses or domestic partners can convert to an individual policy without underwriting or proof of insurability.

  That conversion right is easy to miss and it is worth real money to a child ageing off a family policy or a spouse after a divorce.

• What is not covered Not covered

  On the cancer policy: skin cancer other than malignant melanoma; premalignant conditions or conditions with malignant potential; and any disease or illness other than cancer, even where it was complicated, aggravated or caused by cancer. On the heart attack or stroke policy: any disease or illness other than heart attack or stroke, on the same terms. Neither pays for an intentional self-inflicted injury or sickness, or for exposure to a declared or undeclared war or any act of one. The heart attack and stroke policy also excludes suicide or any attempt at it, the commission or attempted commission of a felony or an illegal occupation that contributed to the loss, voluntary participation in a riot or civil insurrection, and practising for or taking part in a semi-professional or professional competitive athletic contest for which payment is received.

Issue ages

18 to 89, age last birthday.

Renewability

Guaranteed renewable for life provided premiums are paid when due. Renewability is subject to payment of the policy maximum benefits.

Financial strength

Rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best as of 13 March 2024 — the third highest of sixteen ratings, which is the part the letter on its own does not tell you. It is a view of the insurer’s ability to pay claims, not a comment on this policy, and it can be changed at any time.

Policy form

CLICCAN18 NV, CLICCANR18 NV. Form numbers and benefits vary by state.