There is something fishy about Internet insurance.
The Beijing Banking Insurance Regulatory Bureau recently issued the "Notice on Issues Related to the Special Rectification of Internet Insurance Marketing Publicity in Beijing" to completely stop marketing advertisements with excessive marketing and induced consumption problems. The reporter’s investigation found that while major insurance companies have made adjustments one after another, there are still some platforms that are "stubborn".
■ chaos
Getting a parking ticket was induced to insure.
"Scan the code to register in bike-sharing, and the result jumps to the insurance page" "I thought it was a lucky draw, but I didn’t expect to be insured" "I originally wanted to use a mask machine, but I was told that the insurance was successful after entering the information" … … On the black cat complaint platform, the number of complaints against Internet insurance is staggering. Search only with "induced insurance" as the key word, and the results are as many as 500.
Judging from the contents of the complaints, many of them were brought into the application page of millions of medical insurance when using mobile phones to scan codes, and then consumers were induced to fill in personal information such as their names and ID numbers by means of "1 yuan in the first month" or even "free collection", and they completed the insurance without knowing or fully informing them, and were bound to the automatic deduction function, which was much higher than the premium advertised every month.
It is understood that during the investigation, the Beijing Banking Insurance Regulatory Bureau also found that Internet insurance marketing advertisements including "1 yuan in the first month", "1 yuan upgrade", "Free delivery guarantee" and "mobile phone lottery" are relatively common in the market, and the relevant advertising logos are unclear and inconspicuous, and they are often closely combined with consumption scenes such as bike-sharing and charging treasure, to some extent, using consumers’ attention "blind spots" for drainage, while some consumers do not fully understand insurance products.
In this regard, the Beijing Banking Insurance Regulatory Bureau issued the Notice on Issues Related to the Special Rectification of Internet Insurance Marketing Publicity in Beijing, completely stopping insurance companies and insurance professional intermediaries from releasing marketing advertisements in Beijing that have excessive marketing and induced consumption problems, including but not limited to "1 yuan in the first month", "1 yuan upgrade", "free insurance donation", "physical lottery" and "limited sales", as well as unclear advertising logo, inconspicuous closing button and full-screen induction.
It is gratifying that the rectification has indeed achieved certain results soon. The reporter saw that a number of internet insurance companies no longer used the low price in the first month as a gimmick, but adjusted the "first month × yuan" in the previous expression to "monthly× yuan". However, there are also platforms that still have routines to induce insurance.
The reporter opened a small parking program, and the eye-catching prompt "Free parking ticket in 3 yuan" automatically popped up on the homepage. After clicking, I saw that the "Tencent Micro-Security" applet was about to open.
Return to the home page, and publicity contents such as "2 yuan Parking Voucher" and "Limited Time Broadcast" appear at the top of the page. Click it again, and found that under the title of "Get a million guarantees to send parking coupons directly", the advertisements of "Get a million traffic accident guarantees for free" and "2 yuan set up a reduction fund" were put out. In addition to filling in your name and mobile phone number, the page also prompts you to fill in your ID number.
It is worth noting that in the case that the reporter has not filled in the relevant information, the small gray word "I agree to receive free insurance and read the activity rules and user agreement" at the bottom has been checked by default.
■ Routine
Health notification is confirmed without knowing it.
In the investigation, the reporter found that "free insurance" is still common. In the publicity page of an Internet insurance company, a free zone was specially set up to provide a number of "benefits" such as "Zhou Zhou Ling" critical illness insurance, pet medical insurance, women-only disease insurance, aviation accident insurance, children’s vaccination accident insurance and vehicle accident insurance for free collection.
The reporter selects the first "welfare", and the page pops up "You have entered the insurance process: please read the exemption clause, insurance notice and other information carefully. In order to safeguard your legitimate rights and interests, your operation track will be recorded." After confirmation, the page shows that you can receive a maximum of 68,000 yuan of critical illness insurance for free.
At the bottom of the line, the small print says, "The product introduction page is for reference only, and the specific responsibility description is subject to the insurance contract." However, the content of the insurance contract has not been presented, nor has it provided an opportunity for review or confirmation.
After only filling in the name and ID number of the insured, the reporter was told that "the collection was successful" and explained the viewing entrance of the policy and claim information. At the same time, WeChat WeChat official account also sent a message of "successful insurance notification".
When opening the electronic insurance policy, the reporter saw that the column of health notification in the insurance contract showed that "the insured should fulfill the obligation of truthful notification on the basis of fully understanding the health, occupation and historical insurance records of all the insured. The insured promises to fully know the following information of all insured persons. "
After a number of diseases or symptoms and signs listed later, it was written impressively, "For the above-mentioned notification and inquiry at the time of insurance, the insured person chooses ‘ No ’ . This insurance contract is approved and issued by our company in accordance with the applicant’s application for insurance and the confirmed contents of the above health notice. If any situation is not truthfully informed, the company has the right to terminate the contract, and will not be liable for compensation or payment of insurance benefits for insurance accidents that occurred before the termination of the contract. " In fact, the reporter did not go through any notification or confirmation before. Such a crucial step was actually completed by the insurance company directly and silently instead of the insured.
The reporter also tried to choose pet medical insurance, and found that in addition to my name and ID number, I also need to fill in information such as pet type, nickname, date of birth, gender, sterilization, etc., and upload a full-face photo and a full-body photo of the pet. However, the audit here is not strict. After uploading two photos of pets at will, the reporter submitted them smoothly, and was later told that "the collection was successful". Similar to the first "welfare", this insurance did not inform the specific contract content before the insurance, but only after the insurance, can the electronic policy be viewed.
Judging from the special agreement of the policy, this insurance has many restrictions. For example, the compensation limit for each accident is set in 200 yuan, which means that a large number of treatment projects will be excluded. In addition, the expenses incurred by external use of drugs for skin diseases and external use of drugs for ears, eyes, nose and mouth will not be compensated. And click "Upgrade", and the page will switch to a hot-selling million medical insurance.
■ Reminder
Excessive marketing
It is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst.
"Similar to ‘ 1 yuan in the first month ’ ‘ Free insurance ’ The marketing method has been criticized for a long time, and Internet insurance has continuously implanted it into various new things, such as shared products that need to be scanned, lottery activities of shopping websites, and short video platforms. " Zhu Minglai, a professor at the School of Finance of Nankai University, said that such operations as over-marketing, misleading consumption, and compulsory tying are tantamount to quenching thirst by drinking poison, which seems to increase sales performance in a short period of time, which is actually not conducive to the healthy development of the entire insurance industry, and even damages the credibility of the industry, making consumers feel distrust or rejection of insurance.
"From the perspective of multi-level medical security system construction, the emergence of millions of medical insurance itself has its significance and value, which can be used as a supplement on the basis of social security reimbursement to some extent. However, compared with property insurance, health insurance is often more complicated because it involves medicine, which requires salespeople to have corresponding professional knowledge and really know how to do a good job in health management, so that more people can objectively and comprehensively understand the content and characteristics of insurance, instead of tricking each other through routines. " Zhu Minglai believes that for short-term health insurance products such as "Millions of Medical Insurance" purchased through Internet channels, it should be clear that "continuous insurance" does not mean guaranteeing renewal. Insurance companies may stop selling, adjust rates or introduce alternative new products, and then insurance consumers will face the risk of not renewing their insurance. An insurance company shall explain the product attributes to the insured in the sales process, and prompt the possible risks.
"Millions of medical insurance usually has very strict requirements and restrictions on health notification, and groups with chronic diseases of grade three and higher may not meet the insurance conditions. If the insured does not fully understand the relevant terms, he may encounter problems in the later claim settlement process. " Zhu Minglai also said that since most short-term health insurance products have a deductible of 10,000 yuan, if it is a minor illness, after the medical insurance reimbursement, the individual pays the deductible of 10,000 yuan. If you suffer from a serious illness or chronic disease, you will no longer be able to get compensation because of your past illness from the second year.
"From a management point of view, we should not only encourage innovation with an open and inclusive attitude and support the healthy development of Internet insurance, but also strengthen guidance and supervision, carry out normalized network monitoring and inspections, and timely discover and dispose of improper marketing advertisements." Zhu Minglai reminded consumers to be vigilant when operating mobile phones, especially where personal information such as names and ID numbers need to be provided. When purchasing internet insurance products, you should fully and carefully understand the relevant terms of insurance products, be extra cautious before clicking or confirming, and actively safeguard your legitimate rights and interests.
Our reporter Zong Yuanyuan
Illustration Song Xi