Blog

Olubukola Ayodele Advocates for Insurance Reform for Cancer Survivors

Olubukola Ayodele/LinkedIn

May 22, 2025, 17:25

Olubukola Ayodele Advocates for Insurance Reform for Cancer Survivors

Olubukola Ayodele, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“As a breast oncologist, I walk alongside patients through some of the hardest journeys of their lives. But even after successful, curative treatment, many find that the battle isn’t over. A new, quieter struggle begins with their insurance providers.

Cancer survivors routinely face inflated premiums and restricted coverage simply because of their medical history, despite being declared cancer-free/no evidence of disease. This practice not only penalizes individuals for circumstances beyond their control but also reinforces stigma around a diagnosis that, thanks to advances in medicine, is increasingly survivable.

Here’s the paradox:

We encourage early detection, prompt treatment and adherence to follow-up care. We celebrate survivorship. Yet, when patients move forward with their lives by starting families, buying homes, planning for the future, or just want to travel and feel ‘normal’ for a moment, they often find themselves boxed in by punitive financial barriers.

By maintaining high premiums or outright denying affordable coverage, insurers send an unspoken message:
‘You will always be defined by your cancer.’

This is UNJUST and frankly OUTDATED.

Most troublingly, this system deters openness. Some patients hesitate to disclose their health history fully, out of fear it will harm their financial prospects. Others delay critical follow-up care, worrying about the long-term implications for their insurability.

If we are serious about destigmatizing cancer, we must look beyond awareness campaigns and into the real-life consequences survivors face.

It’s time for insurance companies to:

Recognise the difference between active disease, remission and cured patients.

Reassess risk models based on up-to-date evidence, not outdated assumptions.

Streamline premiums for patients who have received curative treatment, reflecting their true health status.

We need policies that reward resilience and recovery, not punish them.

As clinicians, policymakers and advocates, we must keep pushing this conversation forward. Cancer shouldn’t be a life sentence; medically or financially.”