Why Cancer Insurance Matters

Why Cancer Insurance Matters: A Lesson I Learned the Hard Way

Written by Erin Blevins

Director of Marketing – Senior Marketing Specialists

Cancer is something most of us understand in theory. We hear that it can happen to anyone, at any age, but until it happens to someone close to us, it’s easy to keep it at arm’s length.

At age 40, I decided to take out a cancer insurance policy for my husband and myself. My work strongly advocates for cancer insurance, but the real motivation came from a personal story shared by a younger coworker who had been diagnosed with cancer. I remember thinking, “You hear cancer can happen to anyone, but I’ve never known someone so young to get it.” I figured I’d take action early so I wouldn’t have to think about it later…because surely I wouldn’t need a cancer insurance policy until “later”.

What I didn’t know was that just two years after taking out the policy, I would be diagnosed with cancer myself, “later” sure happened a lot quicker than I thought. And that decision, to take out the policy at a time I thought was “too early to need cancer insurance”, would be the difference between financial stability and financial devastation.

Listening to the Voice That Wouldn’t Go Away

In July of 2025, I noticed a small lump on my neck. I didn’t think much of it at first, but a quiet, persistent voice in the back of my head told me to have it checked. My primary care physician, an excellent doctor, assured me that thyroid nodules are extremely common and likely nothing to worry about. My bloodwork even came back completely normal.

Still, that little voice in the back of my mind wouldn’t quiet down.

I asked for further testing, and an ultrasound revealed a large mass. When I asked the ultrasound technician if there was anything concerning, she turned the screen away and said, “Probably not.” But her eyes told a different story.

Soon after, I was referred to an ENT surgeon who specializes in throat cancer. In October 2025, I had surgery to remove the right side of my thyroid where the lump was located.

Finding Out Through a Computer Screen

My hospital uses an online patient portal that posts results before a doctor calls. One evening, I logged in and saw the diagnosis myself: Hurthle cell carcinoma.

I didn’t know what that meant, so I did what most people do—I Googled it.

Rare. Aggressive. Likely to recur. Prone to metastasis.

I sat my husband down and told him. He stayed calm, told me this was temporary, that I would fight it, and held me while I cried.

For weeks afterward, I had to sit with that diagnosis before my follow‑up appointment. I called my surgeon’s office more than once, but she was always in surgery. I was told to wait. Those weeks were agonizing—knowing something was wrong but wanting to believe I’d misunderstood the report.

At my appointment, the surgeon confirmed the diagnosis.

Aggressive Treatment for an Aggressive Cancer

Because of the rare and aggressive nature of Hurthle cell carcinoma, my surgeon recommended equally aggressive treatment. That meant removing the remaining half of my thyroid, testing additional lymph nodes, and undergoing radioactive iodine therapy to destroy any remaining thyroid cells and reduce the risk of recurrence.

The second surgery was much harder than the first. I developed a staph infection, was hospitalized for nearly a week, and came dangerously close to sepsis as my kidneys began to fail. They had to cut and reopen the incision from my second surgery to clean the staph infection, but that wasn’t enough and I had to have a third surgery to fully clean out the infection.

Recovery was brutal.

The radiation treatment was also more intense than expected. Because this cancer is resistant to radioactive iodine, I needed a significantly larger dose—and even three months later, I’m still experiencing side effects.

When I finally underwent a full‑body nuclear scan to check for metastasis, I had two hours between the scan and the appointment where I would get the results. Those two hours felt like two days.

Thankfully, the scan showed no spread. We had successfully destroyed nearly all remaining thyroid cells—something that isn’t guaranteed with this type of cancer.

Cancer Recovery Isn’t Just Physical - It's Financial

Today, I’m recovering. I’m still working to find the right balance of thyroid hormone replacement and attending physical therapy after having my neck cut and stitched back up multiple times.

Recovery is ongoing—and it looks different than I expected. But the physical recovery wasn’t the only challenge.

The Financial Reality of Cancer

Even with good medical insurance, the financial toll was staggering.

I did everything I could to keep treatment within a single calendar year to avoid multiple deductibles—but complications delayed radiation into 2026. That meant two deductibles and two annual out‑of‑pocket maximums back‑to‑back.

Hospitals don’t offer leniency because your credit is good. Surgery #2 couldn’t be scheduled until surgery #1 was paid in full. With no other option, since our savings were now gone, we put thousands—and thousands—of dollars on high‑interest credit cards.

And suddenly, in addition to a life‑threatening diagnosis, we were worried about money.

The cancer insurance policy we had in place changed everything.

When the claim check finally arrived, we were able to pay off our credit cards, avoid decades of high‑interest debt, and rebuild our emergency savings. Without that coverage, this diagnosis could have ruined us financially.

Why I Share This Story

If a coworker hadn’t shared his cancer story with me years ago, I wouldn’t have taken out that cancer policy. If someone hadn’t brought an example to me and talked to me about it directly, I wouldn’t have thought about it, because we don’t want to think about bad things happening to us.

We don’t want the anxiety or mental anguish that comes from thinking about “I’m mortal, someday it is certain that I will get sick and die”. We want to forget and repress scary thoughts of getting sick so we can enjoy the present and focus on how healthy we feel in the moment. And if someone hadn’t reminded me, “there will be a moment in the present when you won’t be healthy”, I wouldn’t have taken action and got a cancer plan.

But cancer insurance conversations matter because they’re uncomfortable.

To every agent: our responsibility is not to make people comfortable—it’s to make sure they’re protected. Sometimes that means reminding people that being healthy today doesn’t guarantee being healthy tomorrow.

To anyone who doesn’t have a cancer insurance policy or hospital indemnity plan: think about your future self. Prepare now so that when—not if—you face illness, you can focus on healing instead of how to pay for life‑saving care.

I never thought I’d need my cancer policy at 42. But when I did, it meant the difference between recovery and ruin.

None of us are immortal, we’re fragile beings only here for a limited time…it’s very scary and hard to think about, especially when you’re healthy in the moment, but THAT is exactly when you need to think about it.

Think about preparation when you’re healthy so when you aren’t, and I promise at some point in your life you won’t be, you don’t have to worry about “how do I pay the hospital so I can have this life saving surgery”, instead you’ll have the luxury of worrying about getting healthy instead.

For more information on protecting your clients with cancer insurance,

please call us today at (800) 689-2800!

CANCER INSURANCE, AWARENESS, RESOURCES, & EDUCATION.

Our CARE Initiative raises awareness about the impact of a cancer diagnosis, providing resources to you as the agent and to clients who might receive this devastating diagnosis. CARE is about more than just selling cancer insurance.