Since the COVID-19 Outbreak, Searches for 'Insurance Cancellation and Premium Payment Deferral' Have Increased

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Since the COVID-19 pandemic, internet search volume related to insurance 'cancellations' has significantly increased, mainly among people in their late 40s.

Kim Se-jung, a research fellow at the Korea Insurance Research Institute, stated in the report "Changes in Individual Insurance Consumer Demand Due to COVID-19," released on the 2nd, "The spread of COVID-19 and the resulting severe economic shock may affect individual insurance consumers' cancellations, demand by insurance type, and preference for sales channels."

The report explained, "The sharp economic downturn caused by COVID-19 is believed to have expanded insurance cancellations among individual policyholders," adding, "Related search volume peaked in mid-March and has remained at a high level since then."

By age group, interest in 'insurance cancellations' increased mainly among those in their late 40s, and among cancellation-related search terms, interest in 'insurance premium payment deferral' was also high.

Additionally, since April, search volumes for 'insurance cancellations' and 'insurance policy loan' have decreased, which is analyzed to be influenced by government decisions such as the emergency disaster relief fund payment decision (March 30) and the start of emergency disaster relief fund payments (May 13).

Looking at the search volume trends by insurance product, interest in online (digital) insurance increased during the COVID-19 spread period.

Research fellow Kim said, "Due to social distancing caused by COVID-19, interest in non-face-to-face channel insurance such as online (digital) insurance and direct insurance has slightly increased," adding, "The increase in interest in online insurance appears to have continued until recently."

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