Recognized as a COVID-19 Disaster... Disaster Insurance Benefits to Be Received

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[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] As COVID-19 is recognized as a disaster, it will be possible to receive disaster insurance payments due to infection and other causes.

On the 6th, the Financial Supervisory Service announced that it will promote improvements to unclear standard terms and conditions and standard business manuals to prevent damage to insurance consumers.

The current life insurance standard terms and conditions recognize "Class 1 infectious diseases" as disasters, as stipulated in the "Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act." COVID-19, classified as a novel infectious disease syndrome, was designated as a Class 1 infectious disease along with Ebola, plague, SARS, and MERS under the "Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act" implemented earlier this year.

However, some life insurance standard terms and conditions have classified COVID-19 and some other infectious diseases as "U codes" in the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases and Causes of Death (KCD), which refer to new diseases with uncertain causes, and have stipulated that compensation is not required. This has caused issues where COVID-19 is included as a compensable case while also being classified as a non-compensable disaster.

Accordingly, the financial authorities have newly established that Class 1 infectious diseases will be covered as disasters based on the laws in effect at the time of the accident, regardless of the KCD classification.

In addition, the authorities decided to include the obligation to notify and report when personal mobility devices such as electric wheels or electric kickboards, which have recently caused fatal accidents, are used regularly.

Also, if a disaster occurs on a holiday but death occurs on a weekday, the individual terms and conditions will be revised so that the decision on insurance payment is based on the date of the disaster accident, not the date of death.

Regarding industrial accidents, if death occurs due to an occupational disease, the terms will be clarified to ensure compensation is provided in accordance with the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act.

A Financial Supervisory Service official stated, "The revision is scheduled for this month, but the implementation date will be decided considering the insurance companies' preparation status."

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