What Does Aflac Cancer Insurance Cover? Payouts, Exclusions, and Riders

Aflac cancer insurance pays you cash benefits directly when you’re screened for, diagnosed with, or treated for cancer. It sits on top of your major medical plan rather than replacing it, and the money can be used for anything — medical copays and deductibles, or rent, groceries, and childcare while you’re out of work. Benefits run across the whole arc of a cancer experience, from a routine mammogram through diagnosis, chemotherapy, surgery, hospitalization, and long-term continuing care.¹

Screenings and the Initial Diagnosis Payment

Every Aflac cancer policy includes an annual wellness benefit that pays a fixed amount once per calendar year for a qualifying preventive test. The amount ranges from $25 to $75 depending on your plan tier. Qualifying tests include mammograms, Pap smears, PSA tests, colonoscopies, breast ultrasounds, genetic testing, and cancer blood panels such as CA 125 and CEA. If you’ve held the policy for several years without filing for past screenings, you can still submit retroactive claims for those earlier years.²

When cancer is diagnosed, the policy pays a one-time initial diagnosis benefit. On the entry-level Select plan, that’s $2,000 for an adult and $4,000 for a dependent child. The mid-tier Classic plan pays $4,000 for an adult and $8,000 for a child. Higher-tier options go to $6,000 or more for adults and $12,000 for children.³⁴ A second opinion consultation is also covered, typically $150 to $300.⁵

Treatment: Chemotherapy, Radiation, and Immunotherapy

Aflac pays monthly cash benefits for the main categories of cancer treatment. All treatments must be approved by the National Cancer Institute or the Food and Drug Administration to qualify.⁶

Physician-administered chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy pay $600 to $1,600 per month depending on plan level.³
Self-administered treatments, including oral medications, pay $100 to $375 per month.⁷
Hormonal therapy pays $15 to $25 per calendar month.³
Topical chemotherapy pays $100 to $150 per month.⁵
NCI-approved experimental chemotherapy pays $300 to $500 per week if you’re charged for the drug, or $100 to $125 per week if you receive it free through a clinical trial.⁸⁹
Antinausea medications prescribed alongside chemo, radiation, or immunotherapy pay $50 to $100 per month.³
Stem cell and bone marrow transplants pay a one-time $3,500 to $7,000.⁵

After 12 months of continuous treatment benefits, Aflac requires annual physician certification that the cancer is still active and has not gone into remission before payments continue.³

Surgery, Reconstruction, and Prosthetics

Surgery is paid on an indemnity schedule, meaning each procedure has an assigned dollar amount based on complexity. The combined daily maximum for surgery and anesthesia runs from about $2,125 on the entry-level plan to $6,250 on higher-tier plans, with anesthesia paid at an additional 25% of the surgical amount.¹⁰ Skin cancer surgery is handled separately, with smaller amounts of $20 to $600 per procedure.¹¹

Reconstructive surgery is also covered. Breast reconstruction pays $2,000 to $3,000 for flap procedures and $500 to $700 for standard reconstruction, including symmetry procedures on the non-diseased breast. Facial reconstruction pays $500 to $700, and permanent areola repigmentation pays $100. There is no lifetime cap on the number of operations.¹¹

Surgically implanted prosthetics pay $1,000 to $3,000 per occurrence, with a $2,000 to $6,000 lifetime maximum per person. Non-surgical prosthetics such as voice boxes, hairpieces, and removable breast prostheses pay $90 to $225 per occurrence under lower lifetime caps.¹¹

Preventive surgery following a positive genetic test for a hereditary cancer syndrome, such as a prophylactic mastectomy or oophorectomy, pays $125 to $250 as a one-time lifetime benefit.³

Hospital Stays and Continuing Care

Hospital confinement is paid per day and the daily rate increases for longer stays. On the Classic plan, an adult receives $200 per day for the first 30 days and $400 per day starting on day 31. Dependent children receive $250 and $500 per day, respectively. There’s no lifetime maximum on hospital days.⁹ Higher-tier plans pay up to $300 per day initially and $600 per day after 30 days.¹²

Continuing care picks up after the hospital or for ongoing outpatient needs:

Extended-care facilities pay $75 to $100 per day, up to 30 days per year.
Home health care pays $50 to $100 per day, up to 10 days per hospitalization and 30 days per year.
Hospice pays $1,000 for the first day, then $50 per day, with a $12,000 lifetime maximum.
Private nursing during hospital confinement pays $50 to $150 per day.⁵³

An annual care benefit of $100 to $200 is paid on each anniversary of your diagnosis for up to five years.³

Travel, Lodging, and Ambulance

Cancer treatment often means driving to a specialist in another city, and Aflac has dedicated benefits for that. They apply when treatment is more than 50 miles from your home.⁹

Transportation pays $0.35 to $0.40 per mile for personal or commercial travel, up to $1,050 to $1,200 per round trip. It covers you plus one accompanying adult, or two adults for a dependent child.
Lodging pays $50 to $65 per day at a hotel or motel, up to 90 days per calendar year, if the stay falls within 24 hours before or after treatment.
Ambulance pays $250 for ground and $2,000 for air transport, limited to two trips per hospitalization.⁹

Trips to a facility within 50 miles of your home are not covered.⁹

Fertility Preservation

Because some cancer treatments can affect fertility, the policy covers egg, sperm, and embryo harvesting, storage, and implantation. Lifetime maximums range from $700 on entry-level plans to $1,400 on mid-tier plans.³⁵

The Lump-Sum Alternative

Aflac also sells a different cancer insurance product that pays a single lump sum on diagnosis rather than itemized benefits for each service. You choose the payout at purchase, in $5,000 increments from $10,000 to $30,000.¹³

The lump-sum product treats carcinoma in situ (pre-invasive cancer still confined to its site of origin) differently from internal cancer. Carcinoma in situ pays a flat $2,000 to $3,000, while an internal cancer diagnosis pays the full selected benefit.¹⁴ Aflac indicates that a non-tobacco user can expect to pay roughly $100 to $165 per year for a $20,000 lump-sum policy, though premiums vary by age, location, and health history.¹⁵ After the covered person’s 75th birthday, lump-sum benefits are reduced by 50%.

What the Policy Will Not Pay For

The exclusions matter as much as the covered benefits. Nonmelanoma skin cancer is excluded from the initial diagnosis benefit and most riders; it’s paid only through the smaller skin cancer surgery schedule. Premalignant conditions and conditions with “malignant potential” are generally excluded as well.¹⁶

In most states, you must have been cancer-free for the past ten years to be issued a policy. If you’ve had cancer before, the policy will not treat a recurrence, extension, or metastatic spread of that same cancer as a new diagnosis. Most plans also impose a 30-day waiting period at the start — cancer diagnosed in the first 30 days of coverage is not covered.¹

Benefits are only paid for treatment inside the United States or its territories.³ Treatments that are not NCI- or FDA-approved for cancer are excluded.⁶ Home health and nursing benefits are not payable when the care is performed by an immediate family member.⁹

Premium Waiver During Cancer

If cancer leaves you unable to work for 90 continuous days, or you are receiving hospice care, Aflac will waive future premiums on a month-to-month basis for as long as the condition continues. A physician’s statement is required, and Aflac may request updated documentation monthly. If the named insured dies and a spouse becomes the new named insured, premium payments resume.⁷

Plan Tiers, Riders, and State Differences

The dollar amounts throughout this article show ranges because Aflac sells the cancer policy in tiers, usually labeled Select, Classic, and Option 3 or Level 3. Higher tiers roughly double several key benefits, including initial diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and stem cell transplants. Some benefits, including ambulance and hospice, are the same across tiers.¹⁷

Several optional riders expand coverage further. The Initial Diagnosis Building Benefit Rider adds $100 to $500 per year to your diagnosis benefit until age 65 or until you’re diagnosed with cancer. The Dependent Child Rider pays an extra $10,000 if a covered child is diagnosed with internal cancer. The Specified-Disease Rider extends coverage to 31 non-cancer conditions such as ALS, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and Lyme disease, paying a $2,000 initial benefit per disease plus $400 to $800 per day for related hospitalization.³⁹¹⁸

Availability varies by state. The primary B70000 series policy is not sold in Virginia, which uses a separate A75000 series, and may be restricted in New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington. In some states the product is marketed as “Specified-Disease Insurance.” Benefit amounts, premiums, and specific terms can differ from state to state, so your own policy document is the controlling source for exact figures.¹⁹²⁰

1
Aflac. Cancer Insurance
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Aflac. Filing Wellness Benefits
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Aflac. Cancer Insurance Policy Form Series B70100
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Fort Bend ISD. Cancer Protection Assurance Option 3
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Allegheny College. Cancer Protection Assurance Policy B70200PA
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Aflac. Cancer Insurance Policy Form Series B70100 (California)
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Fort Bend ISD. Cancer Protection Assurance Policy Series B70200
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Aflac. Cancer Care Premier Policy
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DC Department of Human Resources. Cancer Care Classic Brochure
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Aflac. Personal Cancer Indemnity Level 2 Policy
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Aflac. Cancer Protection Assurance Policy Form Series B70200
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Rancho Santiago Community College District. Aflac Cancer Level 3 Brochure
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Aflac. Lump Sum Cancer Policy
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Aflac. Lump Sum Cancer Insurance Rider Series A73000
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Aflac. Lump Sum Cancer Insurance
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Aflac. Cancer Insurance for Businesses
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CAPCO. Aflac Cancer Plan
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Aflac. Specified-Disease Benefit Rider Series B70000
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Aflac. Aflac Individuals
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Aflac. CPS GIC Cancer Flyer