Statistically, one in four South Africans will be affected by cancer or will have someone close to them diagnosed with this severe illness. For a company of 100 employees, that’s 25 valued employees who could face such trauma during their lifetime. Apart from the financial burden of dealing with a severe illness like cancer, the out-of-pocket medical costs and unforeseen non-medical expenses can wreak havoc on the emotional well-being of an employee and their loved ones. For an employer this could possibly lead to a decrease in productivity, absenteeism and the potential loss of a valued employee, if they are unable to meet the costs of appropriate care in this time of need.
Learn more about the Impact range.
The financial strain of severe illness.
Find out how you can benefit.
Speak to a client solutions specialist.
Michele Jennings, CEO of Sanlam Group Risk Benefits
Sanlam’s new Impact range is an affordable range of severe illness benefits crafted from first principles to consider the true impact of an illness on the employee’s life and financial wellbeing, by aligning the amount of cover payable with the impact of the specific illness on the employee. The range of benefits enables employers to directly address what concerns them most, by selecting the appropriate benefit option.
The Impact range has many advantages when included as part of the employer’s value proposition to employees and provides both the employer and the employee with the peace of mind that they are financially covered against the rising risks of severe illnesses. In addition, this innovative solution can help bridge the gap between what is covered by the employee’s medical aid and the substantial shortfall that can cause stress during and after these traumatic severe illness events.
A severe illness can inflict devastating financial burdens on employees and their affected family members, including the cost of dealing with a severe illness, out-of-pocket medical costs and various unanticipated, but essential non-medical expenses.
made financial sacrifices
used retirement or other savings
could not cover costs of care
borrowed money or went into debt
*From LIVESTRONG Survey, 2015
The Impact range of Severe Illness insurance is made up of 3 benefit options which are available to the employer on a stand-alone basis. Each of these benefit options covers a listed number of defined claim events. Should an employee survive more than 14 days from the date the contractual claim event definition has been met, a severe illness claim (i.e. lump sum benefit) of up to 100% of the insurance amount will be paid, according to our impact-based approach to severe illnesses.
For example: At Sanlam we recognise that not all cancers are the same. While the market’s current tiered benefits typically only pay 25% of the insurance amount for all stage I cancers, doing so does not meet the needs of employees diagnosed with aggressive stage I cancers such as pancreatic cancer. That is why we will pay 100% for 12 specified aggressive cancers from stage I, to align with the benefit paid with the impact of the severe illness on the financial and physical wellbeing of the employee.
Unique impact-based cancer cover paying 100% for specified aggressive cancers from stage I*.
Covers 50 cancer-related claim events.
(Included in our Comprehensive benefit or available as a separate benefit)
Very comprehensive and proper impact-based cardiovascular cover for heart and vascular conditions.
Covers 45 cardiovascular-related claim events, including heart, blood vessels and stroke.
Comprehensive Severe Illness cover providing proper impact-based cover for a wide range of severe illnesses, impairments, injuries and infections. In total more than 200 claim events are covered.
Covers both cancer and cardiovascular claim events.
For more information on how the Impact range can benefit your business, download the Severe Illness product brochure.
For more information of the claim event definitions and laymen’s terms.