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A new report has highlighted a potential lack of clarity and "ambiguous" language used in private medical insurance (PMI) policies.
The Covering Cancer: Survey of Corporate Healthcare/PMI providers conducted by Mercer and Cancerbackup looked at 11 UK-based PMI providers and found that cover for cancer can differ significantly.
While the majority of providers admitted that they do not provide cover for palliative care of treatment for terminal cases of the disease, Mercer discovered that some were "less specific".
Steve Clements, principal in Mercer's health and benefits team, said cancer cover is an "area of focus" for companies taking out PMI and some providers are "using it to differentiate themselves" from others within the market.
"Whilst there have been substantial improvements, there is continued ambiguity over what is and isn't covered in some cases. Eligibility rules for chronic conditions, for example, can sometimes mean cancer treatments will effectively be excluded or cut short," Mr Clements explained.
"Transparency and clarity must be improved."
Earlier this week, Axa announced that it would be marketing child private medical insurance, under the name First Healthcare.
