Prudential becomes the first insurer in Hong Kong to provide cancer protection to cancer survivors with its market-first “PRUHealth Cancer ReCover”

HONG KONG, 28 February 2019 –Prudential Hong Kong Limited (“Prudential”) today announced the launch of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover, the first insurance solution in Hong Kong specifically designed to provide protection for people who have recovered from cancer or carcinoma-in-situ. This makes Prudential the first insurer in Hong Kong to provide cancer protection to cancer survivors^[1], giving them the opportunity to obtain cancer coverage again after having been previously diagnosed with this critical disease.

According to the Hong Kong Cancer Registry, the number of new cancer cases hit a record high of 31,468 in 2016, up 33% from a decade ago, and is expected to rise further by around 40% over the next decade^[2]. At the same time, the median age of those diagnosed with the two most common cancers in Hong Kong, lung and colorectal cancer, has declined in recent years, indicating that cancer patients are getting younger. However, the survival rate for cancer has generally improved over the years^[3], with the five-year survival rate for patients with stage 1 breast cancer as high as 97.5%, according to Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation^[4].

Nevertheless, the possibility of cancer recurrence will continue to have an emotional and financial impact on cancer survivors and their families. Studies show that the rate of recurrence for ovarian cancer can be as high as 80%^[5], while a relapse of colorectal cancer happens in approximately 17% of patients^[6].

PRUHealth Cancer ReCover’s Major Cancer Benefit feature provides a lump sum protection of 100% of the sum assured^[7], if the life assured, who has survived stage 1, 2 or 3 cancer or carcinoma-in-situ only once in their lifetime, is unfortunately diagnosed with a new or recurring covered cancer^[8]. This protection covers the same organs that were previously affected by cancer or carcinoma-in-situ, offering a completely new level of protection to cancer survivors as well as their loved ones.

“Cancer poses a significant health threat to Hong Kong people, especially the survivors of this critical disease, and the anxiety of being unable to obtain protection against a recurrence after recovering from it is distressing to them and their families,” said Derek Yung, Chief Executive Officer of Prudential. “The introduction of the PRUHealth Cancer ReCover not only addresses this protection gap and eases their concerns, but also demonstrates our ‘We DO innovation’ and ‘We DO health’ spirit in delivering groundbreaking solutions to safeguard our customers’ wellbeing across every stage of their health journey.”

Sady Wong, Senior Director, Product Management of Prudential added, “Thanks to medical advancements, more and more people are surviving cancer today. PRUHealth Cancer ReCover is a bespoke solution for cancer survivors, equipping them with not only the much-needed protection and support should the disease strike again, but the confidence and peace of mind to focus 100% on embarking on a new chapter in life.”

PRUHealth Cancer ReCover is tailor-made for cancer survivors under the following two groups of underwriting classes:

Class 1 – people who have been diagnosed with carcinoma-in-situ only once in their lifetime, recovered and not had any related treatment in the past 12 months; or
Class 2 – people who have been diagnosed only once in their lifetime with stage 1, 2 or 3 cancer, recovered and not had any related treatment in the past 36 months

Caption 1: Prudential today announced the launch of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover, the market-first insurance solution tailor-made for people who have recovered from cancer or carcinoma-in-situ. (From Left) Priscilla Ng, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer of Prudential, Derek Yung, CEO of Prudential and Sady Wong, Senior Director, Product Management of Prudential attended the launch event of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover.

Caption 2: (From Left) Priscilla Ng, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer of Prudential, Derek Yung, CEO of Prudential, Ms. Mandy Lam, actress and Sady Wong, Senior Director, Product Management of Prudential, attended the event today to announce the official launch of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover. This first-in-market PRUHealth Cancer ReCover provides protection against cancer even in organs previously affected by cancer or carcinoma-in-situ, offering a completely new level of protection to cancer survivors as well as their loved ones

Caption 3A&3B: “The introduction of the PRUHealth Cancer ReCover not only addresses the protection gap and eases the concerns of cancer survivors and their families, but also demonstrates our ‘We DO innovation’ and ‘We DO health’ spirit in delivering groundbreaking solutions to safeguard our customers’ wellbeing across every stage of their health journey,” said Derek Yung, Chief Executive Officer of Prudential at the launch event of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover.

Caption 4: At the launch event of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover, Sady Wong, Senior Director, Product Management of Prudential said, “PRUHealth Cancer ReCover is a bespoke solution for cancer survivors, equipping them with not only the much-needed protection and support should the disease strikes again, but the confidence and peace of mind to focus 100% on embarking on a new chapter in life.”

The key features of PRUHealth Cancer ReCover are:

Major Cancer Benefit
If the life assured is diagnosed with a new or recurring covered cancer^[8], even in the organs where he/she previously had cancer or carcinoma-in-situ, the plan will provide a lump sum pay-out of 100% of the sum assured, following which it will end. If no claim is made, the policyholder can renew the plan every year until the age of 75 (age next birthday), no matter how his/her health changes.
Distinctive-in-market^[9] Home Care Service to support in-home recovery
After claiming the Major Cancer Benefit, the life assured will be given access to a market-distinctive Home Care Service from a designated third-party service provider, which offers professional, holistic in-home support with a value of 2.5% of the sum assured. This feature allows individuals to recover in the comfortable and familiar surroundings of their homes with loved ones nearby, so they can have additional peace of mind and avoid unnecessary hospitalisation.
Loyalty discount of up to 20% from the 6^th policy year
The plan provides a loyalty discount of 15% on the premium when the life assured renews the plan starting from the 6^th policy year, with the discount going up to 20% for the 11^th policy year and onwards.
Compassionate Death Benefit to support the affected family
If the Major Cancer Benefit has not been paid out and the life assured unfortunately passes away ^[10], the plan will provide his/her beneficiary with a Compassionate Death Benefit of HKD20,000 ^[11].

PRUHealth Cancer ReCover is underwritten by Prudential Hong Kong Limited. For further details and the terms and conditions of this plan, customers can ask Prudential for a sample of the policy document.

^[1] This is based on a comparison with other publicly available critical illness and medical plans issued by Hong Kong's major life insurance companies for individual customers as at 25 January 2019.

^[2] New cancer cases in Hong Kong projected to rise by up to 40 per cent by 2030, South China Morning Post, 21 November 2018 -

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2174199/new-cancer-cases-hong-kong-projected-rise-40-cent

^[3] Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000–14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37,513,025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries, The Lancet, 30 January 2018 -

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)33326-3/fulltext

^[4] Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation https://www.hkbcf.org/zh/breast_health/main/16/

^[5] Affordable Multi-gene Mutation-drug Matching for Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Patients in Hong Kong, The Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), 7 December 2017 - http://cuhk.edu.hk/proj/ovcamut/

^[6] Site and Stage of Colorectal Cancer Influence the Likelihood and Distribution of Disease Recurrence and Postrecurrence Survival: Data From the FACS Randomized Controlled Trial, Annals of Surgery, June 2016 -

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26135689

^[7] Until the life assured reaches the age of 75 (age next birthday)

^[8] Defined in the “Cancer Covered under Major Cancer Benefit” section of the Product Brochure. For details, please refer to

www.prudential.com.hk.

^[9] This is based on a comparison with other critical illness plans issued by Hong Kong's major life insurance companies as at 25 January 2019.

^[10] Excluding suicides regardless of sane or insane within 1 year from the effective date of the policy or from the date of any reinstatement, whichever is later.

^[11] This benefit is paid once under all PRUHealth Cancer ReCover plan(s) covering the same life assured.