Compiled from: The Paper, China Business Times
 
Case review
The once-popular internet product COVID-19 "quarantine insurance" is being gradually delisted.

 
 

According to the general terms of quarantine insurance, if the policyholder is quarantined due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the insurance period, the insurance company will pay a quarantine allowance. Some insurance companies once promoted with slogans like "Only 9.9 yuan, you can get 200 yuan a day" or "Just the price of a cup of milk tea, you can earn money while staying home in quarantine."
 
Behind the enticing slogans, the reality is often that it's easy to buy insurance but hard to get claims. The Paper obtained complaint information related to the keyword "quarantine insurance" from the Black Cat Complaint Platform. After removing irrelevant and duplicate content, there were a total of 1,155 complaints—with policyholders' biggest grievance being that insurance companies are playing "word games."
 
Behind the terms of COVID-19 quarantine insurance policies lie numerous restrictions.
 
Among 1,155 complaints, "being quarantined without being a close contact or in a medium- or high-risk area" was the most frequent reason for claim denial.
 
Some regions classify epidemic areas into lockdown, control, and prevention zones, which insurers also use as grounds for non-payment—policyholders quarantined outside medium- or high-risk areas do not meet the claim conditions. Additionally, some complainants were told that "contact with asymptomatic infected individuals cannot be considered close contact," leading to claim rejections.

 
 

Providing designated official certificates and their content has also become a challenge for policyholders seeking compensation. When Haiyan, a Shanghai resident, applied for claims, the insurer refused payment because the lockdown certificate issued by the neighborhood committee lacked the phrase "mandatory quarantine."
 
 
《Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China》
第五条　
Parties to insurance activities shall exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations in accordance with the principle of good faith.

 
 

 
[1] The author's perspective
The insurance industry has long been criticized because it is easy to buy but difficult to claim. From the consumer's perspective, the following three points should be noted when purchasing these quarantine insurance policies: first, clarify the definition of "quarantine"; second, clarify the scope of insurance liability; third, ensure timely retention of quarantine certificates, centralized quarantine medical observation release forms, and other materials.

The principle of utmost good faith is a fundamental principle of the Insurance Law and the most basic code of conduct that parties and related parties to an insurance contract must abide by in insurance activities. It applies to all aspects of insurance activities, including conclusion, performance, termination, claims settlement, clause interpretation, and dispute resolution. Whether a consumer is quarantined and whether the evidence provided is genuine are not difficult for insurance companies to verify. If they excessively play word games in the contract terms, it would violate the principle of good faith, undoubtedly create a trust crisis artificially, and be difficult for consumers to accept.