[Becoming an Insurance Insider] 'Nailong Controversy' Minor Injury Car Accident Patients... How Do Other Countries Handle It?

[Editor's Note] Difficult insurance, a clear explanation of insurance that remains confusing even after listening. There is no bad insurance in the world, only insurance that doesn't suit me. Following easy-to-understand insurance explanations is not far from becoming an 'insurance insider.'

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Financial authorities are expected to eliminate the so-called 'nai-ron patients'?a major cause of poor loss ratios?by revising the personal injury insurance payment system in automobile insurance.

Overseas, objective standards using medical opinions and engineering analysis are being established to address the problem of excessive insurance payments for minor accidents. It is pointed out that estimating the scale of overtreatment and forming social consensus are necessary to break the vicious cycle of unnecessary insurance payment increases and premium hikes.

According to the insurance industry on the 7th, the Financial Services Commission recently announced in the 'Policy Directions for Trust and Innovation in the Insurance Industry' that it will reform the automobile insurance treatment compensation system in the second half of the year to have minor injury patients (injury grades 12 to 14) bear treatment costs according to their fault ratio.

Currently, automobile insurance requires full payment of the other party's treatment costs regardless of the fault ratio in the accident. Going forward, the system will be revised to apply the fault ratio, so the victim's insurer will only bear the treatment costs corresponding to their own fault ratio in the at-fault party's treatment expenses.

Overseas, research on the impact force of car accidents is used to determine insurance payments for minor accidents or to improve claim procedures to prevent excessive insurance payments.

German insurers, including Allianz, refuse insurance payments for accidents with speed changes below a certain threshold based on engineering test results. They use low-speed collision reproduction tests to assess the injury risk to occupants of the struck vehicle and apply this as a criterion for insurance payments.

In the UK and Italy, claim and review procedures have been improved to prevent excessive payments for minor accidents.

Since 2018, the UK has mandated the submission of medical certificates for whiplash injury compensation, which has been steadily increasing, and is promoting system improvements such as fixed compensation and setting insurance payment limits based on treatment duration.

This applies to whiplash injuries within a maximum treatment period of 24 months, with no recognition of treatment beyond that period. A fixed compensation standard proportional to the treatment period has been established to simplify insurance payment criteria.

Italy also amended the 'Law on Compensation for Damages' in 2012 after an increase in false treatments for minor injury victims, stipulating that compensation cannot be made if there is only the victim's claim without objective evidence for minor injuries.

An insurance industry official said, "It is possible to mandate medical certificate submission when the usual treatment period is exceeded, set payment guarantee deadlines for medical institutions, or apply fault-based cost sharing for minor injury victims. We need to consider medical opinions and engineering analysis together and review system improvements to apply injury assessment criteria to insurance payment standards."