NEW STUDY

YOUR ODDS ARE FRIGHTENING 

Hearing “you have cancer” from your doctor is something no one wants to experience at any point in life. But shockingly, half of all adults will get a cancer diagnosis, according to a new study from the British Journal of Cancer, which predicts that one out of every two U.K. adults born in 1960 will develop the disease during their lifetime.

Broken down by gender, the numbers slightly favor women, but only because more men smoke: Men born in 1960 have a lifetime cancer risk of 53.5 percent, while the risk is 47.5 percent for women. The study forecasts a rise in cancer rates; by contrast, only one in three U.K. residents born in 1930 were projected to get cancer.It’s scary news, but do the numbers translate across the pond here in America? 

They line up pretty closely, says Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, with one in two men and one in three women in the U.S. expected to be diagnosed with the big C.

“The numbers reflect a few things: First, people are living longer, and advancing age is a significant risk factor for cancer,” says Lichtenfeld. “Also, we’re diagnosing cancer at greater rates because of technological advances in screening, such as mammography for breast cancer and PSA tests for prostate cancer.”

Speaking of better diagnostic tools, this is the reason for some good news concerning cancer: While more people are receiving a cancer diagnosis, the death rates for the disease have been steadily going down.

“Since the early 1990s, cancer deaths have declined about 20 percent,” says Lichtenfeld. 

And keep in mind that the stats, while startling, don’t take into account an individual’s lifestyle, which plays a role. Not using tobacco, being active, maintaining a healthy weight, and eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in processed food are all things that can keep your lifetime cancer risk lower than the numbers predict.

This story originally appeared on WomensHealthMag.com.  

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Aflac Named to Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Companies List

COLUMBUS, Ga., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leader of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the United States, announced today it has been named to the Ethisphere Institute's 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies list. This marks 10 consecutive years that Aflac has appeared on this prestigious list, making them the sole insurance company to have appeared on the list every year since its inception. All told, 131 companies made the list this year, eight of which are 10-time recipients, including Aflac.

"Appearing on Ethisphere's list of the World's Most Ethical Companies for an amazing 10 consecutive years is an honor and, in today's climate, a welcomed validation of our business practices," Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos said. "Research continues to show that consumers and investors have a heightened expectation for companies to behave ethically and responsibly, so we are proud to receive this award from Ethisphere, a top authority in the field of corporate ethics."

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Ethisphere and the World's Most Ethical Companies designation, which, according to Ethisphere, recognizes companies that align principle with action, work tirelessly to make trust part of their corporate DNA and, in doing so, shape future industry standards by introducing tomorrow's best practices today.

"Operating in an industry where trust is everything, Aflac has a longstanding history of transparency and leadership in governance practices that has earned them that trust," explained Ethisphere's Chief Executive Officer Timothy Erblich. "Their unwavering commitment to the communities in which they operate around the globe and their values-based leadership approach are only a few of the reasons they have made the list since its inception, 10 years running. Congratulations to everyone at Aflac for being recognized as a 2016 World's Most Ethical Company."

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research and vetted and refined by the expert advice from Ethisphere's World's Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel. The EQ offers a quantitative way to assess a company's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

The scores provided to all companies that participate in the process are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35 percent); corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent); culture of ethics (20 percent); governance (15 percent); and leadership, innovation and reputation (10 percent). Visit http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees for a complete list of this year's honorees.

Best practices and insights from the 2016 honorees will be released in the form of a whitepaper and infographics over the next few months (download the 2015 insights). Organizations interested in how they compare to the World's Most Ethical Companies are invited to participate in the Ethics Quotient.

ABOUT AFLAC

When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day Pay^SM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is a leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac individual and group insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For a decade straight, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere magazine as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies, the only insurance company to appear on the list every year since its inception. In 2016, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 18th consecutive year. Also, in 2016, Fortune magazine included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 15th time, ranking the company No. 1 in innovation for the insurance, life and health category for the second consecutive year. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day Pay^SM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.

About the Ethisphere Institute

The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.

Media contact – Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or jsullivan@aflac.com

Analyst and investor contact – Robin Y. Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330, or rwilkey@aflac.com

Ethisphere Media Contact - Clea Nabozny, 480.397.2658 or Clea.Nabozny@ethisphere.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160307/340903

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100423/CL92305LOGO

SOURCE Aflac

Help employees handle out-of-pocket health care costs - Aflac Blog

August 2015

“…For some people…the Affordable Care Act is becoming The Unaffordable Care Act,” writes Richard Eisenberg, a contributor to Forbes.com. In his recent article, Eisenberg explains that while fewer people are now uninsured, more are underinsured. Why? Because employers are increasingly requiring employees to sign up for consumer-driven or high-deductible health plans.

Unfortunately, “employees in high-deductible plans are seeing huge increases in out-of-pocket costs and some are trimming medical care as a result.” Eisenberg cites a Commonwealth Fund report1 that says 44 percent of underinsured adults reported not getting needed medical care in the past year because of the cost. The report also found that 41 percent with deductibles of $3,000 or more reported problems paying their medical bills or were paying off medical debt.Whether or not your company offers a CDHP or HDHP, learn more about workers’ finances and help them cover out-of-pocket health care costs by offering voluntary insurance. Aflac pays cash to policyholders who are sick or hurt, helping them meet deductibles and pay for prescriptions and medical procedures.

 1 “The Problem of Underinsurance and How Rising Deductibles Will Make It Worse: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2014.” The Commonwealth Fund. Accessed July 27, 2015

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