Health Age Insurance Premium Application Rider
Notification After Reconsideration Within 15 Days
[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Shinhan Life Insurance has filed an objection to the exclusive use rights with the Life Insurance Association regarding the 'Health Age Premium Application Rider' launched last May. This is the first time in three years that a life insurance company has filed such an objection, drawing attention to the outcome.
According to the insurance industry on the 2nd, Shinhan Life recently submitted an objection concerning the exclusive use rights of the Health Age Premium Application Rider. This action followed the Life Insurance Association's New Product Review Committee's decision to reject the exclusive use rights for this product. It is the first time in three years since Hanwha Life in 2017 that a life insurer has filed an objection related to exclusive use rights.
The rejection of the exclusive use rights for this product was due to similarities pointed out with DB Insurance's 'Healthy and Truly Good Health Insurance' launched last year. DB Insurance's product calculates the health age for cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and heart disease based on the subscriber's smoking status, BMI, blood pressure, and other health information to determine the premium.
Shinhan Life maintains that their product is distinctly different from DB Insurance's. A Shinhan Life representative stated, "The Health Age Premium Application Rider calculates health age using health checkup information registered with the National Health Insurance Service, not based on the company's own standards, and applies it to the premium. Since the health checkup results are retrieved using scraping technology, it is a product that combines fintech technology with the advantages of the product."
The result is expected to be announced within this month. The Life Insurance Association plans to convene a committee within 15 days of receipt, conduct a re-examination, and notify the outcome. Typically, when a re-examination is held, the company filing the objection is given an opportunity to explain the product again directly.
Exclusive use rights are a patent system for insurance products. They grant insurance companies that develop creative insurance products for consumers exclusive rights to sell the product for a certain period. Among life insurers this year, Samsung Life Insurance was the only company to obtain exclusive use rights with its 'GI Plus Whole Life Insurance' product. Exclusive use rights are beneficial from a marketing perspective in insurance sales. As the insurance market becomes saturated and companies face difficulties in sales, securing exclusive sales rights through exclusive use rights allows them to gain a competitive edge in market preemption.
Meanwhile, in the life insurance market, where new product development is difficult except for variable insurance due to the product structure focused on human (person) insurance, obtaining exclusive use rights is rare. According to the Life Insurance Association, Hanwha Life filed an objection related to the 'Together Far Donation Rider' in 2017 and successfully obtained exclusive use rights.
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