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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 a high threshold for deductibles, and being easy to pay for insurance. Many consumers "spit": it seems that they have enough insurance protection for themselves at a very low premium, but they only found out that they "guaranteed a loneliness" when they settled their claims.
"6 million yuan medical insurance, as low as 0.6 yuan every month", "serious illness can be covered within the responsibility, and 0 -70 years old can be insured" … … In recent months, 63-year-old Zhang Guosheng wanted to buy an insurance. When searching for insurance online, he often saw insurance advertisements pushed by various platforms.
Looking at the insurance products advertised, it is simple and convenient to buy, the price is cheap, and the level of protection is still very high. So Zhang Guosheng paid 1.2 yuan and opened the renewal fee, and insured a "care for one million medical insurance". However, when the fee was renewed on April 27th, he was surprised to find that 53 yuan was automatically deducted from the WeChat account. At present, his daughter is complaining to the platform.
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 a high threshold for deductibles, and being easy to pay for insurance. Many consumers "spit": it seems that they have enough insurance protection for themselves at a very low premium, but they only found out that they "guaranteed a loneliness" when they settled their claims.
The actual premium is not low, but the threshold for claims is very high.
According to the insurance link provided by Zhang Guosheng, the reporter found this million-dollar medical insurance. This product, with a premium of 1.2 yuan per issue and a total of 12 issues, claims to be able to provide five compensation guarantees, including 6 million yuan for major diseases, 3 million yuan for general treatment and 120,000 yuan for proton heavy ion medical insurance.
1.2 yuan can enjoy insurance coverage as high as 6 million yuan, and the products are attractive. However, after paying 1.2 yuan and opening the renewal fee, the automatic deduction range changed to 1 yuan ~ 4,000 yuan. This is 53 yuan’s deduction when Zhang Guosheng deducts money the next month.
The reporter found that there are many products that play word games like this. "1 yuan in the first month" and "0.1 yuan in the lowest month" actually spread the annual premium evenly to the last 11 months, and consumers did not get preferential treatment.
The premium is not cheap, so is the protection really as powerful as advertising? Pulling down the promotion interface of millions of medical insurance products, the reporter saw that 53 yuan’s product promotion of monthly premium was "pay as much as you spend" and "pay as much as you exceed 10,000 yuan". However, in fact, it has set a threshold of 60,000 yuan for critical illness medical insurance and general medical insurance, and the threshold for special drugs outside the hospital is as high as 100,000 yuan. Moreover, after reaching the threshold of compensation, the highest proportion of compensation is only 30%, and the lowest is only 10%.
Wu Jiabin, a sales manager of an insurance company who has worked for 13 years, told reporters that this is a typical "low-in and high-out" internet insurance product.
Traditional insurance products are characterized by high technology and high legal professionalism, and belong to the "AG is higher than others" model with high sales threshold and high claims threshold. Internet insurance has "innovated" this: the front end has become a low-threshold product marketing, focusing on low premium, high security and simple and convenient insurance; However, the back-end is still a high-threshold traditional claim mode. This "low entry and high exit" 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, and mobile phone screen breakage insurance … … A variety of "online celebrity" products for specific situations and specific groups of people emerge in an endless stream, and Internet insurance has expanded rapidly.
According to the statistics of insurance association of china, 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 a compound annual growth rate of 32.3%.
However, with the explosive growth of internet insurance, related complaints have also increased rapidly. A few days ago, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission Consumer Protection Bureau issued the Notice on Insurance Consumer Complaints in the Fourth Quarter of 2022, which showed that there were 1,686 insurance disputes represented by "COVID-19" insurance, accounting for 21.93% of the total complaints of property insurance companies.
"We will record and video when promoting and selling products, and we have strict marketing norms." A staff member of an insurance company told the reporter that traditional insurance products have a large number of technical terms and concepts in the contract terms, and there are also a large number of highly professional legal terms in the claims. Offline marketers are professional institutions and certified insurance salespeople, and they explain the terms face to face.
The Internet insurance channel focuses on major e-commerce platforms, short video platforms and social media. Insurance companies value platform traffic and often use e-commerce to drain marketing. "Internet marketing slogans are simple and rude, and the selling point is one or two sentences. In fact, insurance products are very complicated, and a few words are simply unclear. " Wu Jiabin said.
The reporter learned that there are a large number of lightweight products in Internet insurance, such as accident insurance in 9.9 yuan, travel insurance in 5 yuan and pet insurance in 16 yuan. For this kind of products, consumers usually don’t study the lengthy contract terms carefully. If they don’t pay enough attention to the exemption clauses, it is easy to complain if they can’t pay.
Marketing propaganda should comply with regulations
The chaos of Internet insurance "low in and high in" has also ushered in the continuous strengthening of supervision. A few days ago, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Carrying out Self-inspection and Rectification of Internet Marketing Publicity Compliance of Sales Staff of Insurance Institutions, requiring all insurance institutions to carry out self-inspection and rectification on Internet marketing publicity.
In fact, in recent years, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and various agencies have repeatedly issued relevant consumer risk warnings. In July 2019, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued "Risk Tips on Preventing Misleading Propaganda by Using Media Platform", which clearly pointed out three kinds of misleading behaviors: hunger marketing, exaggerating income and misinterpreting terms. On December 7, 2020, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission revised the Regulation on Internet Insurance Business, which clearly defined the definition of Internet insurance marketing publicity, the management system of insurance institutions, the publicity scope of employees, the content and logo of marketing publicity, etc.
This time, 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 that sales personnel should investigate the false statements or misleading descriptions, one-sided propaganda or exaggerated propaganda contents of information released from the media, organize, arrange or entrust others to carry out Internet marketing propaganda by forwarding information, consulting, answering questions, etc., and send 10 types of violations such as illegal information in WeChat groups or chat groups of other Internet platforms.
"To reduce disputes and complaints, we must first integrate the protection of consumer rights into our own business philosophy." Some observers said that the innovation of Internet insurance can’t leave the insurance industry with the impression that everything can be insured when applying for insurance and nothing can be compensated when making claims. We should take the customer as the center and consider whether every step in the business chain is accurate and compliant from the perspective of consumers.
