Smokers of More Than One Pack a Day No Longer Insured... Here's Why (Comprehensive)

Research on Lifestyle and Insurance Purchase Intentions
"Results Showing Smokers' Confidence in Their Health"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] A study has found that smokers who smoke more than one pack a day are relatively less likely to have insurance compared to those who smoke less.

Since lifestyle patterns and past insurance history significantly affect disease insurance enrollment, it is pointed out that insurance companies need to provide customized services and closely manage their customers.

According to the research report "Changes in Lifestyle and the Relationship with Disease Insurance Purchase" published on the 14th by Professor Park Bok-hee of Jeonju University and Professor Jeon Hee-joo of Dongduk Women's University, smoking status was identified as the most influential factor in disease insurance enrollment, followed by the number of currently subscribed disease insurance products and age.

The report stated, "Smokers who smoke 20 cigarettes or fewer per day showed the highest willingness to subscribe to disease insurance products, while those who smoke more than 20 cigarettes showed the lowest willingness," diagnosing this as "(smokers) being confident in their own health."

Also, the more disease insurance policies a person has subscribed to, the higher their willingness to subscribe was. The report explained that this is consistent with previous studies showing that people with prior insurance experience are more likely to subscribe than those who have never had insurance.

Those who have received diagnosis benefits from insurance they previously subscribed to showed a higher willingness to subscribe to disease insurance products than those without such experience, and the higher the amount of insurance benefits received, the higher the willingness.

Factors Influencing the Intention to Purchase Disease Insurance Products (Source: Research Report on the Relationship Between Lifestyle Changes and Disease Insurance Purchase)

By age group, the younger generation under 30 showed the highest willingness to subscribe to disease insurance, with a tendency to decrease as age increased. The report advised, "There is a need to develop and supply products for the younger generation, moving away from products mainly targeting middle-aged and elderly groups." Heads of households or married individuals also showed a higher willingness to subscribe to disease insurance.

Furthermore, the study found that the more regularly a person exercises daily, the healthier their subjective health status, and the higher their stress levels, the greater their willingness to subscribe to disease insurance.

Based on the average annual medical expenses over the past three years, those spending between 200,000 and less than 3 million KRW showed the highest willingness to subscribe to disease insurance. For those spending less than 3 million KRW, willingness increased with higher medical expenses, but for those spending over 3 million KRW, willingness somewhat decreased.

This phenomenon is interpreted as a lack of capacity to subscribe due to the burden of high medical expenses or the judgment that subscription is not possible due to pre-existing conditions.

Professor Park said, "If insurance companies provide information about new products related to insured persons to customers who have experience claiming insurance benefits, or offer customized services such as information on specialized medical staff, medical facilities, and health management, customer satisfaction can be increased, leading to higher sales."

Meanwhile, this report analyzed the willingness to subscribe to disease insurance based on lifestyle patterns, medical expenses, and types of disease insurance benefit receipt, using the 2018 Insurance Consumer Survey by the Insurance Research Institute. It derived willingness to subscribe to disease insurance based on factors such as regular exercise, current subjective health status, health checkups, drinking, smoking, and stress presence.

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