In recent years, with the development of Internet information technology and financial technology, the Internet insurance industry has developed vigorously. However, in the process of development, Internet insurance products have been repeatedly criticized for playing "word games" to upgrade premiums, setting high thresholds for deductibles, and making insurance easy to pay compensation. Many consumers "complained": it seems that they have enough insurance protection for themselves with extremely low premiums, but they find that they "have been lonely" when they are claimed.
"6 million yuan medical insurance, as low as 0.6 yuan per month", "major illnesses and minor illnesses within the responsibility can be insured, 0-70 years old can be insured"... In recent months, Mr. Zhang, 63, has wanted to buy an insurance policy, and when he searches for insurance online, he often sees insurance advertisements pushed by various platforms.
Looking at the insurance products advertised, the purchase is simple and convenient, the price is cheap, and the level of protection is still very high, Zhang Guosheng paid 1.2 yuan and opened a renewal fee, and insured a "care million medical insurance". However, when he renewed his fee on April 27, he was surprised to find that 53 yuan was automatically debited from his WeChat account. Currently, his daughter is complaining to the platform.
The actual premium is not low, but the claim threshold is very high
According to the insurance link provided by Zhang Guosheng, the reporter found this million medical insurance, this product with a premium of 1.2 yuan per issue and a total of 12 issues, claiming to provide 6 million yuan of critical illness medical insurance, 3 million yuan of general treatment insurance, 120,000 yuan of proton heavy ion medical insurance and other 5 compensation guarantees.
1.2 yuan can enjoy up to 6 million yuan of insurance protection, the product is amazingly attractive. However, after paying 1.2 yuan and opening the renewal, the automatic deduction range becomes 1 yuan ~ 4000 yuan. This led to a deduction of 53 yuan when Zhang Guosheng deducted the next month.
The reporter's interview found that there are many products that play "word games" like this. "1 yuan in the first month" and "minimum 0.1 yuan per month" actually spread the annual premium evenly over the next 11 months, and consumers do not receive discounts.
Premium is not cheap, so is the protection really as strong as advertised? Pulling down the million-dollar medical insurance product promotion interface, the reporter saw that the product promotion with a monthly premium of 53 yuan was "how much to spend and how much to lose" and "more than 10,000 yuan will be compensated". However, in fact, a threshold of 60,000 yuan is set for critical illness medical insurance and general medical insurance, and the compensation threshold for out-of-hospital special drugs is as high as 100,000 yuan. Moreover, after reaching the compensation threshold, the highest compensation ratio is only 30%, and the lowest is only 10%.
Wu Jiabin, a sales manager of an insurance company with 13 years of experience, told reporters that this is a typical "low in, high out" Internet insurance product.
Traditional insurance products are characterized by high technology and high legal professionalism, and belong to the "high entry and high output" model with high sales threshold and high claim threshold. Internet insurance has "innovated" in this regard: the front-end has become a low-threshold product marketing, focusing on low premium, high protection, and simple and convenient insurance; However, the back-end is still a high-threshold traditional claims model. This "low in, high out" approach is unfair and unreasonable to consumers.
Internet insurance has exploded and complaints have increased
While marketing "innovation", in recent years, many Internet insurance companies are also making efforts to "upgrade" their products. Stay up late insurance, isolation insurance, mobile phone broken screen insurance... Various "Internet celebrity" products for specific situations and specific groups of people have emerged one after another, and Internet insurance has rapidly expanded out of the circle.
Statistics from the Insurance Association of China show that from 2013 to 2022, the number of enterprises engaged in Internet insurance business has increased from 60 to 129, and the premium scale of Internet insurance has increased from 29 billion yuan to 478.25 billion yuan, with an average annual compound growth rate of 32.3%.
However, while internet insurance has exploded, so have the number of related complaints. A few days ago, the Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Insurance Consumer Complaints in the Fourth Quarter of 2022", showing that there were 1,686 insurance disputes represented by "new crown" insurance, accounting for 21.93% of the total number of complaints from property insurance companies.
"We record and video when we advertise and sell our products, and we have strict marketing regulations." An insurance company staff told reporters that traditional insurance products have a large number of technical terms and technical concepts in contract terms, and there are also a large number of highly specialized legal clauses in claim settlement requirements. Offline marketers are all professional institutions, licensed insurance salespeople, and they explain the terms face-to-face.
Internet insurance channels are concentrated on major e-commerce platforms, short video platforms, and social media. Insurance companies value platform traffic and often use e-commerce methods to attract traffic. "Internet marketing slogans are simple and rude, and the selling point is just one or two sentences. In fact, insurance products are very complex, and a few words are not clear at all. Wu Jiabin said.
The reporter learned that in Internet insurance, there are a large number of lightweight products, such as 9.9 yuan accident insurance, 5 yuan travel insurance, 16 yuan pet insurance, etc. For such products, consumers usually do not carefully study the lengthy contract terms, and if they do not pay enough attention to the exemption clause, it is easy to complain that the compensation cannot be paid.
Marketing communications need to be compliant
The chaos of "low entry and high output" of Internet insurance has also ushered in the continuous strengthening of supervision. A few days ago, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Carrying out Self-Inspection and Rectification of Internet Marketing Publicity Compliance of Insurance Institution Sales Personnel, requiring all insurance institutions to carry out self-inspection and rectification work on Internet marketing publicity.
In fact, in recent years, the CBIRC and various dispatching agencies have issued relevant consumer risk warnings on many occasions. In July 2019, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the Risk Reminder on Preventing the Use of Self-Media Platforms to Mislead Publicity, which clearly pointed out three types of misleading behaviors: hunger marketing, exaggerated benefits, and misinterpretation of terms. On December 7, 2020, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) amended the Provisions on the Supervision of Internet Insurance Business, which clearly stipulates the definition of Internet insurance marketing and publicity, the management system of insurance institutions, the scope of publicity of practitioners, and the content and logo of marketing and publicity.
This time, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a rectification notice, and Internet insurance marketing became the focus of investigation and rectification. The notice clearly requires the investigation of 10 types of violations, such as false statements or misleading descriptions of information published by sales personnel, one-sided publicity or exaggerated publicity, unauthorized organization, arrangement or entrustment of others to carry out Internet marketing publicity through the form of forwarding information, consultation, and answering questions, and sending illegal information in chat groups on WeChat groups or other Internet platforms.
"To reduce disputes and complaints, we must first integrate the protection of consumer rights into our business philosophy." Some observers said that the innovation of Internet insurance cannot leave the insurance industry with the impression that everything can be insured when applying for insurance and that it is difficult to pay anything when making claims. It is necessary to be customer-centric and consider whether each step of the business chain is accurate and compliant from the perspective of consumers.
Source: Daily Worker