Hanwha Life to Reapply Upon Meeting Research Standards
Review Committee Results on Data Provision Expected by End of This Month
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Japan's Neo First Life launched a new dementia insurance last month. Based on medical research findings that the fewer the number of teeth among the elderly compared to a certain standard, the higher the incidence rate of dementia, this insurance offers about a 20% discount on premiums if the remaining number of teeth after age 70 is 20 or more. This is an example of utilizing medical data related to dementia and dental health.
In the domestic insurance industry, the use of medical data has emerged as a hot topic in the era of big data, but the situation remains distant for now.
Last year, insurance companies that were rejected after applying to use public medical data are pushing for reapplication, drawing attention to the decision of the National Health Insurance Service.
According to the insurance industry on the 17th, Hanwha Life recently reapplied to the National Health Insurance Service for the use of medical data. The results are expected by the end of this month following the review process of the National Health Information Data Provision Review Committee of the NHIS.
In September last year, five insurance companies including Hanwha Life applied to the NHIS to use medical data. However, the review committee rejected the request, stating that the scientific research standards were not met and that it violated the principle of minimizing data provision. It is reported that Hanwha Life supplemented the research plan together with the medical community to meet the scientific research standards.
A Hanwha Life official said, "We have thoroughly supplemented the parts that were not approved last year and have now reapplied," adding, "We hope that a path for utilizing public medical data will open in line with the data era."
Other companies whose applications were rejected, such as Samsung Life and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, are also preparing to reapply through their respective departments. It is expected that other insurance companies will follow suit depending on Hanwha Life's review results.
Since the suspension of health and medical data provision in 2017, the insurance industry has been creating insurance products or calculating premiums using data imported from overseas. However, since the data did not match domestic conditions, it had the limitation of not clearly reflecting the domestic situation.
In January last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced through the 'Health and Medical Data Utilization Guidelines' that medical data can be used for scientific research, specifying that scientific research includes industrial research for the development and improvement of new products and services, changing the atmosphere.
In July last year, the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service granted final approval for data use to six insurance companies, opening the way for the use of public medical data. However, there have been no cases allowing additional use since then.
The medical community, including the Korean Medical Association, opposes providing citizens' medical information to private insurance companies.
The KMA opposed at the time of the HIRA's provision of medical data, stating, "The provided data may increase the probability of adverse selection by insurance companies. There is a high risk of misuse, such as encouraging insurance enrollment for diseases with low probability and rejecting enrollment for diseases with high probability, and the victims of this will ultimately be the public."
An insurance industry official said, "It is important to establish a foundation for data utilization to develop insurance products specialized for vulnerable groups such as the elderly or patients with pre-existing conditions or to provide healthcare services," adding, "A progressive review is necessary."
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