A national campaign to create heightened awareness and knowledge about cancer-insurance and critical illness insurance will be undertaken by the director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

"There is an enormous segment of the American population that has zero knowledge about the risk of developing cancer prior to retirement ," explains Jesse Slome, director of both the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance as well as the relaunched American Association for Critical Illness Insurance.

A little-discussed form of valuable protection, critical illness insurance can pay a lump-sum of cash upon diagnosis of a critical illness.  "Cancer is no longer a death sentence, especially if you are between the ages of 35 and 70," Slome notes.  "You are going to get treated and you are going to likely survive but that will come with a price tag that most are unprepared to pay."

The first step in the educational effort was the re-launching of the organization's website.    "We intend to make this the leading national resource for consumers seeking relevant information along with options for those who want to take next steps," the insurance expert explains.

Slome who founded the national long-term care insurance in 1997 was recruited by industry leaders to create a critical illness insurance focused organization in 2009.  "There was an initial surge of interest and support, but ultimately we focused more of our efforts on long-term care insurance education," Slome admits.  "Things do change and there are several new generations of young adults who have no knowledge about this important topic, and I am very pleased that we'll be kicking things back into gear."

To learn more visit the Association's website at www.criticalillnessinsuranceinfo.org.