Half of Full-Time Employees Surveyed Don't Understand Health Insurance Coverage for Cancer-Related Medica...(55 and older (38 percent). Geogr...),Health

Would your health insurance cover most of the expenses if you or a family member were diagnosed with cancer? The survey reports similar responses across gender, age and region of the country:

• Gender. Among men, 35 percent say they don't know if their health insurance covers cancer-related expenses and 6 percent say it wouldn't. Among women, 46 percent say they don't know and 7 percent say it wouldn't.
• Age groups. 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 and 6 percent saying no. Among age groups: 35-44, 43 percent don't know and 5 percent say no: 45-54, 32 percent don't know and 9 percent say no; and 55 and older, 29 percent don't know and 4 percent say no.
• Geographic regions. Responses among geographic regions don't show big variances: Northeast, 42 percent say they don't know and 5 percent say no; Midwest, 38 percent say they don't know and 5 percent say no; South, 36 percent say they don't know and 9 percent say no; and West, 43 percent say they don't know and 4 percent say no.

"These answers show that most employees don't have an accurate understanding of what their benefits will cover, since statistics show more than half of cancer treatment costs are not covered by health insurance," Gilligan continues. In fact, cancer costs the American public more than $219 billion a year, and only 41 percent of these costs are direct costs covered by most major medical plans, such as hospital and doctors' charges an
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