Cancer was fastest-growing ailment in 2024: Medi Assist report

Cancer was the fastest-growing ailment in India in 2024, while respiratory illnesses saw the highest increase in the average cost of treatment, a report released by health benefits administrator Medi Assist said on Thursday.

Cancer incidence rates—the percentage of claims with respect to overall people insured—grew 10-12% year-on-year in 2024, according to the report. Incidences increased after the age of 40, and were steeper among women. Women had a 1.2x to 1.5x higher incidence rate compared to men, the report added.

This is in keeping with an overall trend of increasing cancer cases in India, Vijay Sankaran, chief claims officer, Medi Assist, told Mint.

According to a 2022 EY-FICCI report, cancer incidence rates increased at a CAGR of 6.8% from 2015 to 2020. In 2022, around 20 lakh cases were documented, although the real incidence is estimated to be 1.5x to 3x higher. According to projections, the cancer burden in India could exceed 45 lakh new cases within the next 5-6 years.

Rise in cost of treatment

Average cost of treatment in respiratory ailments, cancer and cardiology also increased, according to the report. Treatment cost for respiratory ailments saw the steepest rise of 10-13% last year. Respiratory ailments were the biggest reason for hospitalisation amongst children, the report noted.

“Post covid-19, more and more and more people are getting admitted…And the treatment patterns, on the investigation side and aggressive treatment methodologies that are getting used, have kicked in,” Sankaran said, explaining the rise in costs. “It is both preventive and a lot of complications are also seen nowadays with diseases evolving. That has pushed up the cost. So a lot more cases are going to longer hospitalizations and maybe ICU hospitalizations as well,” he added.

Medical inflation

Highlighting the growing cost of treatments in India, the company, which is India’s largest health insurance third party administrator (TPA), has been focussing efforts to address medical inflation.

“The yearly increase in average claim amount in Medi Assist Portfolio has been 5-7% versus the typical medical inflation in the country, which is around 10- 13%,” Sankaran said.

The company negotiates with partner hospitals to bring down the ultimate cost. “Medi Assist’s large network of hospitals plays an integral part in offering better discounts and packages to insurers, enabling them to have access to competitive rates,” Sankaran added.

Medi Assist partners with over 18,000 hospitals across the country, and has 35 insurer partners to administer health insurance plans for retail customers and publicly-funded health schemes. The company also partners with employers to administer their employee health insurance plans.

Going forward, the company is expecting medical costs to continue rising, with inflation being at a 10-12% rate. “But at our end, the inflation is minimal…our settlement costs don’t rise that high and generally stay less than 3%,” Sankaran added.