"Increased Female Smoking and E-Cigarette Use... Insurers Must Manage Smoking Risks"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Although the smoking rate in South Korea is decreasing, the smoking rate among women and the use of electronic cigarettes are increasing, raising concerns that insurance companies need to manage smoking risks.

According to the report "Changes in Smoking Behavior and Risk Management by Insurance Companies" released by the Korea Insurance Research Institute on the 19th, the smoking rate, which was 27.5% in 2010, steadily declined to 22.4% in 2018 over the past eight years.

In 2018, the male smoking rate was 36.7%, a decrease of 11.6 percentage points compared to 2010, whereas the female smoking rate decreased to 6.2% in 2013 but then rose to 7.5% in 2018.

The adult electronic cigarette usage rate has increased since 2016, reaching about 4.3% in 2018. In particular, the electronic cigarette usage rate among adolescents was about 2.7% in 2018, showing an increasing trend compared to the previous year.

For high school seniors, the electronic cigarette usage rate was 5.7%, higher than that of adults.

The report pointed out, "Although the smoking rate has decreased, cases demonstrating the risks of electronic cigarettes have occurred both domestically and internationally, so it is difficult to say that the overall smoking risk that insurance companies need to manage has decreased."

Recently, in the United States, cases of severe lung injury and deaths among users of liquid-type electronic cigarettes have occurred, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend refraining from using liquid-type electronic cigarettes until the investigation of causative substances and causal relationships is completed.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also announced that, based on the analysis of electronic cigarette liquid components, some products were found to contain substances suspected of causing lung damage, and thus it maintains a strong recommendation to stop using liquid-type electronic cigarettes.

Domestic insurance companies offer premium discounts of 5-20% to non-smokers through health (preferred risk) discount riders, but typically, conditions such as normal blood pressure and weight must also be met, and only some products from certain insurers provide these riders.

In contrast, the United States and the United Kingdom apply different mortality rates and insurance rate tables for smokers compared to non-smokers, with smokers paying about twice the premiums of non-smokers, the report explained.

A comparison of life insurance rates between smokers and non-smokers based on samples from five U.S. insurance companies showed that smokers’ premiums averaged about 215% of those of non-smokers.

Hong Min-ji, a research fellow at the Korea Insurance Research Institute, suggested, "We need to pay attention to the changing smoking behaviors and risks and consider sophisticated smoking risk management measures like those of insurance companies in the U.S. and the U.K. It is necessary to consider applying different insurance rates by distinguishing between smokers and non-smokers in experience life tables, as well as insurance rate policies for electronic cigarette users."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.