[Becoming an Insurance Insider] Two Overlapping Indemnity Insurance Policies... "Regretted Canceling Unconditionally"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyungil] Jo Sangsoo (36), a 6-year employee who recently succeeded in changing jobs, is struggling with whether to cancel his private health insurance. He heard that the new company provides group private health insurance coverage and wanted to reduce insurance premiums by organizing his existing insurance.

However, he was worried that if he canceled it, the insurance company might not accept his private health insurance after changing jobs. Also, considering retirement, he felt it might be difficult to enroll in new private health insurance as he gets older.

Jo said, "I decided to cancel because I felt like I was paying premiums for two private health insurances that I didn't need to pay," adding, "I'm not sure if I can re-enroll in private health insurance without loss after changing or quitting the company."

Private health insurance covers the actual medical expenses incurred whether you have one or multiple policies, so there is usually no significant difference in cost. Many office workers are trying to organize overlapping private health insurance to reduce premiums.

According to the insurance industry on the 17th, private health insurance is a product where the insurer compensates the insured for the actual medical expenses incurred during treatment.

Even if you have two or more private health insurance policies, compensation is paid proportionally according to the terms within the coverage limit. For example, if you have overlapping private health insurance with a coverage limit of 20 million KRW from Insurance Company A and 30 million KRW from Insurance Company B, and the medical expense is 30 million KRW, the principle is that each company pays 10 million KRW.

However, if the medical expenses exceed the coverage limit, you can receive more compensation. For example, if the medical expense is 40 million KRW, you can receive 20 million KRW from Company A and 20 million KRW from Company B, totaling 40 million KRW.

Therefore, the insurance industry generally agrees that it is better to maintain private health insurance provided by the workplace if its coverage limit is lower than the private health insurance you have subscribed to.

However, if the coverage limits of private health insurance are not significantly different, it is worth considering using the private health insurance suspension system to reduce premium burdens. At this time, the timing of subscribing to personal private health insurance is important.

In cases of overlapping private health insurance, after suspending the payment of personal private health insurance premiums, if group private health insurance is discontinued due to job change or retirement, the previously suspended personal private health insurance can be reinstated without underwriting.

After retirement, it is difficult to enroll in personal private health insurance due to age, but if certain conditions are met, it is possible to enroll without underwriting. However, when personal private health insurance is resumed, it is enrolled as a new private health insurance product, not the existing one.

Private health insurance sold before October 2009 (old private health insurance) had no deductible, so those who subscribed to private health insurance at that time may experience reduced coverage benefits when switching to new products. In such cases, it is better to maintain the insurance with the earlier subscription date.

To suspend personal private health insurance and resume it after retirement, you must have received insurance payments of 2 million KRW or less over 5 years from group private health insurance and have no history of treatment for the top 10 diseases such as cancer or leukemia to convert to personal private health insurance without underwriting. Also, if the period of non-enrollment in both group and personal private health insurance exceeds one month per occurrence or a cumulative total of three months, reinstatement may be rejected according to the company's underwriting guidelines.

An insurance industry official said, "It is better to organize overlapping private health insurance considering how much longer you can stay at the company," adding, "If you are considering changing jobs or retirement, it may be better to maintain your existing private health insurance."

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