Due to the Spread of COVID-19... Chinese Insurance Companies Expand Remote Medical Consultations

KIDI Report on "COVID-19 Response Status of Chinese Insurance Companies"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] As the damage caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreads in China, Chinese insurance companies are expanding remote medical consultations and using this as an opportunity to promote new businesses.

On the 15th, the Korea Insurance Development Institute announced in its report "Status of Chinese Insurance Companies' Response to the Coronavirus" that "many insurance companies are providing mobile remote medical consultation services, which were previously offered only to some customers, completely free of charge to secure users."

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) is expanding non-face-to-face services of financial institutions such as applications to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and is ordering the strengthening of financial services for confirmed patients and affected areas.

Accordingly, major Chinese insurance companies are playing roles such as ▲providing remote medical consultation and remote processing services for automobile accident compensation ▲rapid compensation for COVID-19 patients ▲providing free coverage (donations) for medical staff ▲establishing funds for infectious disease prevention and treatment ▲supporting medical supplies and delivering donations.

The Korea Insurance Development Institute explained that most Chinese insurance companies commonly temporarily lifted restrictions on requirements for existing hospital/ward grades, deductibles, and waiting periods, along with prioritizing services for confirmed patients.

In particular, Ping An Insurance Group has been responding to COVID-19 by utilizing the technology and non-face-to-face systems accumulated in the insurance and medical fields, and it has been investigated that they are also providing transportation sector solutions to prevent virus spread in cooperation with local governments.

Ping An Good Doctor offers 24-hour free mobile medical consultation services. Good Doctor uses non-face-to-face medical technology to open free online clinics for infectious disease prevention not only through its app service but also in cooperation with local government health authorities in Wuhan, Hefei, and other regions, providing telephone medical inquiry services. Additionally, the AI chatbot AskBob provides simple self-diagnosis functions, symptom information, medication guidance, and confirmed patient movement route information.

Along with this, Ping An Insurance Group’s Smart City Transportation Division built a vehicle inquiry system for outbreak areas at the request of the Shenzhen city government. Ping An filters duplicate information and provides vehicle movement information to the police. They also piloted non-face-to-face and contactless equipment and systems at the Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation and major highway rest areas in Shandong Province. Ping An’s non-face-to-face and contactless temperature detection system measures body temperature with precision instruments and automatically transmits abnormal data to on-site managers and government disease control centers.

The Korea Insurance Development Institute stated, "Major Chinese insurance companies are demonstrating the fundamental role of insurance?protection?during the national disaster of epidemic spread, while also using this opportunity to promote the mobile new businesses they have been pursuing."

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