Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co.'s supplemental cancer insurance policy features benefit options to cover medications that combat the negative side effects of radiation and chemotherapy. It also pays for certain wellness tests, such as a skin cancer biopsy — whether or not the policyholder is diagnosed with the disease.

Colonial's Cancer Insurance Plan offers the flexibility of four benefit levels and four optional riders. The product is only available through employers who offer it, but it is a "portable" — employees can take their policies with them if they leave the company.

Colonial Life, a subsidiary of UnumProvident Corp., is based in Columbia, S.C., and provides supplemental insurance to employees and their families, sold through the workplace.

Depending on the benefit level and riders chosen, the cancer insurance plan may include coverage for medical imaging such as MRIs and ultrasounds, outpatient surgery, and bone marrow transplants. It may also cover drugs that combat the negative effects of chemotherapy and radiation, such as Epoetin, Nupigen, and Procrit. According to Colonial Life, policyholders may elect lump sum benefit options that they can use to help pay the deductibles on other health plans in effect, supplement lost income, pay costs associated with nutrition counseling, or pay caregiver costs for themselves or their children.

"Treating cancer can take months, even years, and costs can be staggering," says Colonial Special Risks Products Director Christopher Boyce. "Basic health insurance or major medical insurance may not provide the benefits necessary to pay for long-term, high technology approaches that cancer treatment demands."

The four optional riders (available in most states) include:

• Specified disease hospital confinement rider: Expands coverage to other specified diseases such as multiple sclerosis, ALS, and sickle cell anemia.
  
• Initial diagnosis of cancer rider: Pays a lump sum of $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the option selected.
  
• Progressive initial diagnosis of cancer rider: Pays a lump sum that increases with the length of time the policy is held.
  
• Death due to cancer rider: Pays a lump sum of $5,000 in most states when a policyholder dies.