"Insurance Companies Must Launch Coverage Products to Overcome Low Birthrate"

Boheom Yeon "Increasing childbirth age and rising insurance demand"

It has been analyzed that the insurance industry should actively introduce insurance products that cover pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions to overcome the national low birthrate issue.

On the 14th, the Korea Insurance Research Institute stated in its report titled "Current Status and Challenges of Domestic and International Pregnancy and Childbirth-related Insurance Products" that "while developing new insurance products may not directly increase the birthrate, related insurance products can help alleviate the economic burden on families during pregnancy and childbirth."

In Asian countries such as Japan, China, and Hong Kong, private health insurance products that cover medical situations that may occur during pregnancy and childbirth are being sold. Private health insurance covers pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions separately from public insurance but does not cover pregnancy and childbirth costs.

In South Korea, typical pregnancy and childbirth costs are mostly covered by the National Health Insurance and government support, so domestic insurers do not cover these usual costs. Instead, domestic insurers cover medical situations that occur during pregnancy and childbirth or provide additional benefits at the time of pregnancy and childbirth. Except for delivery, they compensate fixed amounts or actual expenses for hospitalization and surgery due to pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions, pay diagnostic fees for miscarriage and preeclampsia, and provide death benefits if the mother dies from pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum-related conditions. Other than these, they do not directly cover related conditions but offer benefits such as savings-type insurance with additional interest rates during pregnancy and childbirth or premium waivers at childbirth.

Kim Gyudong, a research fellow at the Korea Insurance Research Institute, said, "Pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions are accidental incidents with a low possibility of adverse selection, making them suitable for insurance coverage," adding, "As the age of childbirth increases and the number of preeclampsia patients is on the rise, demand for related insurance will further increase." He also noted, "Because the insurance period for pregnancy and childbirth-related conditions is less than one year, insurance companies may not be very interested in the market dominated by long-term insurance, but developing products linked to fetal insurance could help expand the market."