In this menacing bird flu crisis, insurance companies in China acted quickly.
The forefront of the global insurance industry.
165438+1On October 7th, China Minsheng Life Insurance Company announced the launch of term life insurance specifically for human avian influenza. 165438+1October 1 1 day, China Huaan Property Insurance Company also announced the launch of a newly developed "worry-free disease insurance for avian influenza". It is understood that this is the first special life insurance and health insurance for human avian influenza. A number of foreign insurance companies have said that no foreign counterparts have launched similar insurance.
The human avian influenza insurance introduced by Minsheng Life Insurance is "People's Livelihood Care Special Disease Term Life Insurance (B)" and "People's Livelihood Care Group Special Disease Term Life Insurance (B)", which are aimed at individuals and groups respectively. 200 yuan for each premium in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with the insured amount of 65,438+10,000 yuan; The insurance premium in other areas is RMB 100 each, and the insured amount is RMB 50,000 each.
The "bird flu worry-free disease insurance" launched by Huaan Insurance is bolder than Minsheng Life Insurance, with a premium of 100 yuan and a guarantee amount of 200,000 yuan.
The product term of the two companies is 1 year, and the people's livelihood clause stipulates that the insured will not pay until he is diagnosed with bird flu. Hua' an relaxed the regulations and can pay as long as it is diagnosed.
Suspected unscientific
Once the human bird flu insurance came out, it was beaten black and blue by various arguments before it could fight the bird flu epidemic. Insurance practitioners first "attacked" and many insurance companies were questioned.
A person from Shanghai Branch of China Ping An Life Insurance Company of China Insurance Company said that because there is no historical data for reference, there are problems in the rates of these insurance types. "The pricing of this kind of insurance is more likely to be a rough estimate"; Taiping Life believes that the risk of this type of insurance cannot be controlled. Once the bird flu broke out in an all-round way, such a small-scale insurance company that launched human bird flu insurance could not pay for it at all.
Scholars' views are more acute. Hao, director of the insurance department of the Central University of Finance and Economics, pointed out that some companies are playing bird flu games.
He believes that there is no actuarial basis for the two companies to launch this insurance. According to records, so far, a total of 25 cases of avian influenza/kloc-0 have been reported in the world, of which 64 cases died. For the insurance industry that relies on the law of large numbers for pricing, such a small sample size is far from enough. Moreover, there is not much insurance experience for large-scale epidemic diseases in China, and the real participation of insurance companies is only SARS.
Foreign insurance professionals also expressed their incomprehension of human avian influenza insurance products. They believe that in the developed insurance market, there is no product like China in the face of this bird flu by established insurance companies; China's insurance market is so big that there are too many fields to be developed. There is absolutely no need to attract people's attention by novelty.
One of the reasons is that although many traditional insurance products do not indicate that human avian influenza is covered, according to the provisions, if there is a risk due to human avian influenza, the insurance company can also pay for it.
Generally speaking, as long as consumers have a good combination of term life insurance, whole life insurance insurance, medical insurance and major illness insurance, they can naturally cope with various risks that may arise, without having to buy special insurance in a hurry when the epidemic is approaching. For example, in China Ping An Life Insurance Company of China Insurance Company, if you are hospitalized due to bird flu, you will pay insurance liability and be exempted from liability according to the medical insurance clauses; If death is caused by avian influenza, the death insurance premium shall be settled according to the death insurance liability.
The defense of crab eaters
Both companies that launched human bird flu insurance were swallowed up. People in Hua 'an said with grievances that once the product was launched, it attracted a heated discussion, but no one seriously asked himself whether he was a party to the incident.
He told this magazine that he thought he had finished his work: when the whole society was threatened by bird flu, someone should come forward, and insurance has always been called the "stabilizer" of society.
"Although the historical data of human avian influenza is insufficient at present, insurance companies can learn from past experience. In the design of insurance products, in addition to insurance liability risks, they should also fully consider insurance operation costs such as management costs, sales costs and IT system development costs, just like the development of SARS products in 2003, and constantly improve their products through the data accumulated in the operation process. At the same time, the company will also determine the insurance premium and insurance amount according to the insurance ability of ordinary people and the economic losses caused by illness. " Huaan people said.
"We have collected a lot of information about bird flu. For example, the incubation period of avian influenza disease is generally 3-7 days. Avian influenza can be divided into high pathogenicity, low pathogenicity and non-pathogenicity. Highly pathogenic avian influenza poses a great threat to human health and life. Therefore, the insurance liability of Huaan Insurance is that the insured is infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza 10 days after the policy takes effect. At the same time, the company also avoids the possible risks of insurance companies through technical control means such as reinsurance arrangement, underwriting and compensation. When making claims, the insured needs to provide a certificate issued by the national epidemic prevention department that people are infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, which also avoids possible moral hazard to some extent. "
Zhao Jianxin, general manager of the actuarial department of Minsheng Life Insurance, said that Minsheng's products for avian influenza were developed through actuarial methods based on certain data.
"Our data comes from cooperative reinsurance companies, and they have mastered the data of human deaths caused by avian influenza worldwide in the past 30 years." Zhao Jianxin said that the data of human deaths from avian influenza existed 30 years ago, but the previous data of common influenza deaths were confused with them and later separated by technology. "
Zhao said that Minsheng fully communicated with the cooperative reinsurance companies when determining the responsibilities and rates, and most of the premiums and responsibilities underwritten in the future will also be allocated to reinsurance companies.
Huaan further stated that, as an enterprise with operational risk, it may introduce other types of insurance according to the change of bird flu epidemic situation.
Chen Xianyi 165438, Director of the Emergency Office of the Ministry of Health, reported on October 20th that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission from the current global 130 cases of human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza, including China.
This is only a description of the past risk state, and it must not be easily thought that companies that have launched special insurance for avian influenza will have more and more chances of winning in the future.
Is it a business opportunity or a crisis
During SARS in 2003, insurance companies developed 53 kinds of insurance products. The CIRC even approved 2 1 insurance companies (including life insurance and property insurance companies) and 4 1 new products or services for SARS within1month. The speed of development and approval is unprecedented.
The regulatory authorities are also open to this poultry epidemic. 165438+ 10/2, Guo Zuojian, deputy director of the property insurance supervision department of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, revealed that at present, there are five insurance companies in China that have insurance responsibilities for avian influenza. Guo also said that at present, both property insurance companies and life insurance companies have launched bird flu insurance, and the products launched are very popular. There is a demand in society, and insurance companies try their best to develop various products to meet the needs of society.
However, many companies, such as China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance, which quickly launched SARS insurance in the past, cautiously said that they should give consideration to responsibility and rationality, and they did not want to be dragged into crisis by a business opportunity without sufficient scientific basis and accurate prediction of the future.