85 Million: Who Covers The Risk Of "The Group Forgotten By Commercial Insurance"?

"I knew the importance of insurance for a long time. Children were rejected when they were 10 years old. They said that disabled people could not participate in insurance. The insurance company did not have this kind of insurance. I am very disappointed." The words of the grandfather of a 15-year-old mentally retarded person in Liaoning Province reflected the aspirations of many disabled families about insurance. "Refused to participate in insurance" and "refuse to settle claims" are the most commonly used words in the conversation of disabled families, which also makes them generally in a helpless situation.

According to the report on the 70th anniversary of the protection of the rights and interests of the disabled in New China, China has 85 million disabled people, which is the country with the largest disabled population in the world, accounting for 6.34% of the total population. Their relatives are as high as 250 million, accounting for nearly one sixth of China's total population, that is, one out of every six people is related to the disabled. The disability prevalence rate of China's population will continue to increase in the next 40 years. The forecast results show that the current prevalence rate of disability in China will reach 11.31% by 2050, and the total number of disabled people in China will reach 165 million, which will be twice the current rate.

With the rapid development of China's insurance industry, a large number of disabled groups have been left behind. The latest national data on the current coverage of disability insurance in China comes from a survey conducted by the China Disabled Persons' Federation in 2011. At that time, the coverage rate of commercial insurance for the disabled in China was 0.5%, and the per capita premium was less than 100 yuan, which was in sharp contrast to the level of 3500 yuan per capita in the whole society. "Disabled insurance" has been described as a "forgotten corner" by Wang He, vice president of the China Association of Actuaries.

Wang he pointed out to the reporter of the 21st century economic report that the real meaning of the special insurance for the disabled is basically blank. The disabled insurance lacks a set of specialized management technology and service system, and the relevant research is seriously lagging behind and no one is interested in it.

The recently released "Research Report on accessibility assessment of disabled persons in China's commercial insurance" shows that many types of commercial insurance products in China have different degrees of "Financial Exclusion" against the disabled. Among the nine types of commercial insurance products of 13 insurance companies involved in the survey, none of the health insurance products of all kinds of disabled people can be assured to participate in the insurance.

On the contrary, the disabled insurance shows a huge market demand. According to the survey data of the research group of social security and commercial insurance for the disabled in China, 30% - 35% of the disabled have strong willingness to purchase insurance and have the ability to invest; 50% - 60% of the disabled have strong willingness to buy insurance and have certain ability to invest, hoping to get part of the government's subsidy, and 10% of the disabled people show that they can't afford to buy insurance.

At present, the accessibility of commercial insurance for the disabled is low. Visual China

The "out of reach" dilemma of disabled people's Insurance

Zhou Ling, the main author of the above report, told 21st century economic reporter that "risk" has become the core of the fundamental characteristics of contemporary society.

The disabled are the vulnerable groups in Chinese society, and also the gathering place of risks. The level of social security for the disabled is relatively low in general. The phenomenon of secondary disability, disease, especially serious illness and chronic disease leading to poverty and returning to poverty is relatively common. All kinds of disabled people are faced with multiple risks such as accidents, diseases, loss, responsibility and driving in social life.

When all kinds of risks are accumulated and the disabled lack risk sharing, the whole society may be faced with unbearable burden.

Is the government responsible?

In Zhou Ling's opinion, the government can only guarantee the basic, and it is impossible to provide all-round protection for all disabled people in all aspects of their life cycle. At present, China's social security for the disabled mainly includes economic security and public services. Data show that direct economic security covers a quarter of all disabled people in terms of the number of people with disabilities. There are large differences in the minimum living standard and the two subsidy standards. However, in terms of public services, the number of people covered is limited despite the diversity of types.

In this context, it is necessary and urgent to develop commercial insurance for the disabled. Zheng Lu, associate professor and doctoral advisor of the school of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University, believes that the innovation of insurance can be used to solve more social problems, that is, to realize the function of social management with the concept of "insurance +". Robert shearer, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2013, mentioned in his book the new financial order that various forms of risks are hidden around us. It is precisely because of the existence of these risks that we can maximize our potential, we need some new insurance tools to help society and individuals resist risks.

However, from the current situation, the accessibility of commercial insurance for the disabled is low. The report points out that in terms of products, China's commercial insurance products have different degrees of "Financial Exclusion" against the disabled. Among the nine types of seven types of commercial insurance products of the 13 insurance companies involved in the survey, none of the health insurance products of all kinds of disabled people can be assured to participate in the insurance. Annuity insurance and life insurance are the ones with certain coverage for the disabled, while automobile insurance and home property insurance are not limited to the disabled. In terms of services, none of the online insurance platforms of the surveyed companies have carried out barrier free transformation of the insurance and claim settlement systems for the disabled.

"Refusing to participate in insurance" and "refusing to settle claims" are two major dilemmas for disabled people to participate in commercial insurance. In this regard, the report believes that there are hidden dangers and challenges in the three dimensions of "legal principle and situation". "At present, the relevant provisions of commercial insurance products are not clearly agreed, and there are no relevant provisions in the scope of liability exemption. In this case, if the disabled are directly refused to participate in the insurance, it may be subject to legal risks and challenges. In addition, it is difficult to have sufficient data analysis and basis for the relevant provisions of insurance companies, which is due to subjective concerns about possible risks. Moreover, refusing to protect the disabled brings a sense of exclusion to the disabled, which not only affects the social integration of the disabled, but also runs counter to the core socialist values. "

Wang he believes that behind the development of disabled insurance in China, there are two reasons for supply and demand. "From the perspective of demand, the relative living standard of the disabled in China is relatively low, and the lack of payment ability is the main contradiction. At the same time, the individual's risk awareness is not strong, and the lack of insurance knowledge is also an important reason. From the perspective of supply, technology is certainly a basic and important factor, mainly due to the lack of specialized research on "disability risk", the lack of relevant data, and even the lack of standard system of relevant data. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain and accumulate the data of insurance operation and management, especially product development and actuarial pricing. But fundamentally speaking, it is the insurance industry's lack of correct understanding of the development of insurance for the disabled, which leads to insufficient attention. It even thinks that the insurance for the disabled is a "thankless and thankless" thing. Therefore, there is no basis for solving the existing problems due to the lack of sense of responsibility and internal motivation. "

"Emerging market" of disabled insurance

The fourteenth five year plan makes it clear that China's future development is to meet the people's growing needs for a better life. In Wang he's opinion, the people in this subject must include 85 million disabled people and 200 million families. Therefore, social development should pay attention to the growing needs of the disabled for a better life.

Wang he said that on the whole, the "14th five year plan" proposes to improve the medical insurance and relief system for major diseases, steadily establish a long-term care insurance system, actively develop commercial medical insurance, and strengthen the basic protection for the disabled and partially disabled elderly.

From the point of view, the "14th five year plan" has made special and specific provisions on the protection of the disabled, which clearly proposes to protect the basic rights and interests of the disabled, enhance the level of care and service for the disabled, and effectively protect the development rights and opportunities of the disabled groups. At the same time, it is proposed to enhance the security and development ability of the disabled, and help them to participate in basic medical care and basic endowment insurance. In addition, in the field of services for the disabled, it is proposed to establish and improve the standard system of basic public services, clarify the national standards and establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism, so as to promote the convergence and balance between urban and rural areas.

The above report also gives four suggestions for disabled people to participate in commercial insurance. First, under the view of social development, give full play to the institutional advantages of China's system to carry out the institutionalized design of commercial insurance for the disabled. Second, the government departments should take the leading responsibility and actively build the insurance support system for the disabled. Third, insurance companies need to pay more attention to and take positive actions to turn "refusal without understanding" into "emerging markets". Fourth, all sectors of the community should actively participate in the construction of the disabled commercial insurance cooperation and support network.

Fundamentally speaking, an important reason behind the unsatisfactory development of China's disabled insurance is the limitation of the insurance industry's understanding of the "standard body", that is, the health talents belong to the "standard body". In this regard, Wang he put forward countermeasures: "if we can scientifically classify different groups of disabled people, and carry out the accumulation, statistics, analysis and actuarial calculation of risk data, then the disabled are not" non-standard bodies ", but can become" standard bodies ", and provide them with more targeted insurance protection and services. At the same time, the large population base of the disabled in China is an important advantage to carry out risk actuarial and insurance product development for the disabled. The key is to quickly formulate the industry or group standards for relevant data, and carry out data collection and accumulation. "

This year's government work report also specifically proposed to "improve the insurance guarantee and service functions". "As an important part of China's social security system, commercial insurance for the disabled will usher in a new historical development opportunity during the 14th Five Year Plan period." Zhou Ling pointed out that "underwriting the disabled means many unknowns, but also many new possibilities. It not only means a new market, but also can become a new source of social values. It is an important embodiment of our socialist core values and new development concepts in the financial field."