【Cancer Recurrence】Comparing Multiple Critical Illness Insurance: Is Having More Claim Payouts Better?

Nowadays more and more people are being diagnosed with cancer, and cancer is becoming more common among younger people. Many want to put a safety net in place early so that if they unfortunately develop cancer in the future, they will have some financial support to proactively face it and receive treatment.

According to the Hong Kong Cancer Registry, the number of new cancer cases in Hong Kong has continued to rise, from over 17,000 in 1992 to over 35,000 in 2022¹. With advances in medicine, patient survival rates have improved greatly. However, the risk of recurrence for some cancers remains significant. For example, Hong Kong’s most common cancer, lung cancer, has a recurrence rate of 30% to 60% for stages I to III².

In response to cancer’s high recurrence rate, many critical illness policy buyers consider whether a product allows multiple claims when choosing insurance, to cope with the long road of fighting cancer. Multiple claims are undoubtedly very attractive, and many insurers advertise the ability to claim for cancer multiple times, but multiple claims do involve certain restrictions. How should policyholders analyze and choose the critical illness cover that suits them? This time 10Life analyzed the multiple-claim cover of six popular critical illness products on the market, including those from Chung Yat Insurance, FWD, Manulife, AIA, Sun Life and Prudential. 

Cancer often requires extended periods of treatment and recovery, and recurrence is common. Therefore, the new generation of critical illness products generally include multiple-claim protection to shield policyholders from the heavy financial burden caused by ongoing treatment, recurrence or metastasis. Among the six critical illness products compared, there is a significant difference in the maximum number of cancer claims allowed. Notably, Zhongyi Insurance’s “Crossing Infinity Cover” offers unlimited claims, while other insurers provide up to 5 to 9 claims, and Prudential covers 3 claims. 

Is the more times cancer is payable equivalent to better protection? In fact, insurers set a waiting period for each claim, and the length varies. If the policyholder develops cancer again during the waiting period, no compensation will be paid. The relevant waiting periods also differ in nature, roughly divided into waiting periods for recurrent cancer, new cancer, and ongoing cancer. Basically, the vast majority of insurers set a 3-year waiting period for recurrence of the same cancer or for ongoing cancer. After making a cancer claim, if the policyholder develops another new cancer, some companies’ waiting periods can be as short as 1 year — namely 忠意保險、富衛、Sun Life永明.

Since this article focuses on multiple cancer claims, the number of multiple claims is counted by cancer. In fact, besides cancer, multiple claims can also cover stroke and heart disease, depending on the definitions of different insurers. Some policies may allow the insured to shorten the waiting period to one year and receive the cancer benefit in ongoing cash payments. The insured can decide, based on their own situation, whether to receive the benefit as ongoing cash payments or as a lump sum.

Further reading: 【Living with Cancer】Understand Critical Illness Insurance Payouts for Ongoing Cancer in One Article

In general, cancer patients have a relatively higher chance of recurrence during the first five years after completing treatment. So treatment outcomes are usually expressed by the "5-year survival rate", which represents the percentage of patients who are still alive five years after diagnosis or the start of treatment. Policyholders should therefore pay particular attention to a product's five-year multiple-claim payout amount.

Table 2 assumes treatment for the same type of cancer and calculates the maximum total claim amount that each critical illness product can pay within different treatment periods (received as a lump-sum). Using a five-year treatment period as an example, after a policyholder's first cancer claim, if they continue to receive active treatment, because the "persistent cancer" waiting period is usually three years, the policyholder can claim at most twice within five years.

However, Manulife recently launched a new type of critical illness income protection in which the "persistent cancer" waiting period is shortened to one year, meaning up to five claims can be made within five years. That plan's five-year multiple-claim total is also the highest among the products, reaching 500% of the sum insured, with a maximum cumulative claim limit of 900%. FWD's "Critical Illness Support (Upgraded)" ranks second in five-year multiple-claim total because its first cancer claim structure is different: the first claim is 100% of the sum insured, the 2nd and 3rd claims are 120% of the sum insured, and the 4th to 8th claims are 150% of the sum insured; therefore the first two claims (a total of 220%), together with FWD's additional three-major-diseases cash benefit (10% per year, paid for 4 years)³, yield a maximum five-year claim total of 260%. 

We compared the 10-year treatment period (equivalent to 3 claims) and the 20-year treatment period (equivalent to 6 claims); the gap in maximum total claim amounts among the six critical illness products is widening.

In terms of premiums, for a 35-year-old non-smoking male with a coverage amount of USD 150,000, FWD's premium is the highest among the six products, at USD 4,955 per year.

The so‑called multiple cancer claims undoubtedly provide greater protection for cancer patients, allowing them to undergo treatment with more peace of mind on the long road of fighting cancer. Policyholders should pay attention not only to the number of claims but also to the policy details, so as to calculate coverage that matches their actual situation.

Also, you should carefully read the definitions of different terms. For example, regarding "cancer claims," some companies count from the date of the first cancer diagnosis, while others count from the completion of the first cancer treatment. Therefore, when choosing a critical illness product, you must evaluate it based on your own needs and actual circumstances. The terms of critical illness insurance products are relatively complex to the general public; if you want to learn more about how to choose a critical illness product that suits you, feel free to contact a 10Life insurance advisor.

Last updated: June 6, 2025

Note:  

1. https://www3.ha.org.hk/cancereg/pdf/overview/Overview%20of%20HK%20Cancer%20Stat%202022_tc.pdf
2. https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2015/lung-cancer-indicators-recurrence
3. When a cancer has already received a critical illness benefit or multiple benefits for specified critical illnesses, and one year after the diagnosis date of the critical illness benefit or multiple specified critical illness benefits for that already‑claimed cancer the insured is still receiving active treatment or palliative care for the same cancer, FWD Critical Illness Support (Upgraded) will pay the 3 Major Diseases cash benefit for cancer, at 10% of the original sum insured per year, for up to five consecutive years. This 3 Major Diseases cash benefit can be claimed a maximum of twice under this policy, and the 3 Major Diseases cash benefit for cancer and the 3 Major Diseases cash benefit for acute myocardial infarction or stroke will each be paid only once under this policy, regardless of how many times the insured may suffer cancer, acute myocardial infarction, or stroke. This benefit will terminate on the policy anniversary immediately preceding the insured's 86th birthday.  

This English version of this article has been generated by machine translation powered by AI. It is provided solely for reference purposes. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between this translation and the original Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.