According to the latest 2021 white paper on elderly health security needs released by Ping An health insurance, British Bristol life reinsurance and Shanghai University of Finance and economics, in addition to the high incidence of malignant tumors among the elderly, chronic diseases are also a “blank area” for the protection of high-risk elderly groups in China, but at present, about 260 million elderly people with chronic diseases are difficult to obtain commercial insurance protection. Due to the particularity and uncertainty of elderly health risks, it is very difficult to operate commercial elderly health insurance. Therefore, even though there are more than 1000 products available for the elderly in China’s insurance market, there are still some problems, such as limited insurance age, short protection cycle, small protection scope, insufficient exclusive products for the elderly, etc, There is a big gap with the demand for health security and health services of the elderly.
Through 3633 valid questionnaires, the white paper comprehensively depicts the needs of the whole population in China for elderly health insurance. According to the survey data, 74.6% of the respondents are most worried about the risk of major diseases in the elderly, followed by the degradation of physical function and loss of self-care ability in the elderly, 67.5% of the respondents are worried about chronic diseases and complications in the elderly, and 54.4% 51.9% of the respondents suggested that minor diseases caused by the decline of immunity to the elderly were constantly related to the risk of accidental fracture caused by “brittle” bones of the elderly.
Under the background of the large burden of government geriatric care and health management and the increasing burden of personal medical expenses, commercial health insurance, as a powerful guarantee of geriatric health risk, is playing an increasingly important role. The survey results show that the respondents have formed a certain understanding of commercial health insurance. From the perspective of purchase behavior, the data show that 73.6% of the respondents have purchased different types of commercial health insurance, of which the insured of inpatient medical insurance is the most, accounting for 50.5%. Secondly, 44.1% of the respondents who have purchased health insurance have taken out medical insurance for specific diseases, 31.1% of the respondents have taken out outpatient medical insurance, and the policyholders of one-time payment insurance and high-end medical insurance account for 23.2% and 10.3% respectively.
For medical and major disease insurance, the survey data show that the respondents have a wide range of needs for the protection scope of elderly medical insurance, of which the demand for inpatient medical insurance is the highest, accounting for 85%, outpatient and emergency medical expense guarantee and inpatient nursing expense guarantee account for 74% and 71% respectively. At the same time, more than 60% of the respondents have needs for surgical medical expense guarantee.
For the elderly disability care, the respondents expressed great demand, of which 80% said they had demand for disability medical care security, and about 70% of the respondents had demand for disability rehabilitation cost security. Based on demand, the respondents showed a positive attitude towards commercial elderly care insurance. 70% of the respondents believed that commercial elderly care insurance must be purchased, but the respondents also showed a gap between the demand for security and the economic ability to purchase elderly care insurance.
Professor Zhong Ming of the school of finance of Shanghai University of Finance and economics pointed out that from the survey results, the respondents not only have a clearer understanding of the health risks of the elderly, but also have a greater demand for elderly health insurance such as elderly health management and medical services, elderly medical care and major disease security and elderly disability care security. In contrast, although there are many insurance products available for the elderly in the market, there are still some problems, such as limited insurance age, short protection cycle, small protection scope, insufficient exclusive products for the elderly and so on.
Ding Wen, chief actuary and chief risk officer of Ping An health insurance, said that we should speed up meeting the insurance protection needs of the elderly over the age of 70, actively develop exclusive health insurance products for the elderly, and improve the insurability of the elderly through differentiated product design and underwriting rule design; At the same time, expand the insurable population, carry out the development of chronic disease products, and break through the difficulty of “unable to insure” for the elderly with chronic diseases.
Wei Wei, chief representative of BSF life reinsurance Shanghai Representative Office, believes that the elderly health security service is not a simple payment of insurance benefits, but to establish a medical ecosystem, conduct big data analysis on the medication and hospitalization of the elderly, establish a digital health risk portrait, and use digital tools to carefully manage all kinds of serious drug waste links, reduce costs and increase efficiency Save medical insurance resources, reduce the trouble of insurance claim settlement, and improve the insurance enthusiasm of the elderly.
(Xinhua Finance)
