[Becoming an Insurance Insider] Is Children's Insurance Always Better If You're Under 30?

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[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyungil] Jo Changsik (pseudonym, 63) was looking into insurance to sign up for his son who is graduating from university and heard that it is better for those under 30 to enroll in children’s insurance. However, he found it difficult to understand why an adult can join children’s insurance and what the advantages are.

Jo said, "I was looking into signing up for the three major insurances this time, and I heard that children’s insurance is available up to age 30," adding, "They say it has many advantages compared to general insurance, but I am curious if there are any disadvantages as well."

In the insurance industry, children’s insurance is considered a must-have insurance to sign up for before turning 30. In the past, those over 20 could not enroll in children’s insurance, but the restriction has been lifted, allowing children’s insurance up to age 30.

On the 26th, insurance experts advised that children’s insurance can be subscribed to under favorable conditions such as low premiums, high coverage limits, and broad coverage including premium waiver benefits.

Unlike adult insurance, children’s insurance has almost no mandatory settings (such as death or disability coverage forced by insurers) and no linkage criteria, allowing enrollment with only the desired coverage components. There are no exclusion or reduction periods, providing 100% coverage after enrollment.

On the other hand, adult insurance has a high proportion of mandatory settings and high linkage criteria, which increase premiums when configuring the same coverage amount due to these compulsory conditions. Coverage limits also cannot be set higher than those of children’s insurance.

Regarding exclusion and reduction periods, adult insurance typically offers 50% coverage within one year and 100% coverage after one year, which is less advantageous than children’s insurance.

Additionally, recently, it is possible to subscribe to higher limits for early-stage cancer, cerebrovascular, and ischemic diagnosis benefits than adult insurance, and there is a premium waiver function for four categories: general cancer, early-stage cancer, cerebrovascular, and ischemic conditions.

For example, in a product with a 20-year payment period and maturity at age 90, if a diagnosis occurs even once during the 20 years of premium payments, the remaining premiums are waived for the entire period.

An insurance industry official said, "Adults up to age 30 can also enroll, and coverage is provided without premium waiver or reduction," adding, "Since it is difficult to prepare high-cost diagnosis benefits with adult insurance, it is advisable to consider enrolling in children’s insurance if you are within the eligible age."