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The Yomiuri Shimbun An insurance agency in Tokyo calling on people to prepare for the risk of heatstroke
By Arata Hashizume / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
13:08 JST, September 1, 2024
More people are insuring themselves against the risk of heatstroke amid this year’s heat wave, with the increase coming on the back of growing demand for travel, sports and outdoor events. Insurance companies are focusing on establishing and expanding compensation plans.
Insurance subscriptions doubled
Marble Co., an insurance agency in Minato Ward, Tokyo, has reported a large uptick in sales of “Minreku,” a recreation insurance policy that also covers heatstroke. The insurance, offered by Nissay Dowa Insurance Co., is an accident policy for groups with optional coverage for heatstroke. Subscriptions from the beginning of the year to the end of July nearly doubled from the same period of the previous year.
A Marble’s sales representative said: “Since June, before the end of the rainy season, we had seen a sharp increase in applications anticipating the summer heat wave. Awareness of the insurance is rising alongside an increase in understanding of how dangerous heatstroke is.”
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, about 43,000 people were transported to hospitals for heatstroke in July, about 6,600 more than the same month last year and the second highest level since the survey began in 2008. About 60 people were killed.
2 types of insurance
There are two types of insurance policies to cover the risk of heatstroke: low-cost, short-term insurance, which can be purchased for one day, and personal accident insurance with optional coverage for heatstroke. There are policies that cover minor illnesses requiring intravenous treatment, in addition to those that cover death and hospitalization. Prices of low-cost, short-term insurance start at around \100 per day, while the price of optional coverage is usually less than ¥100 per month.
The sales of insurance plans covering heatstroke has increased as more people were back to outside activities after COVID pandemic.
Sumitomo Life Insurance Company, which launched the industry’s first low-cost, short-term insurance policy for heatstroke in 2022, saw the number of policy purchases exceed 100,000 as of July 25 this year, up from 56,000 in the previous year. The company said, “A large number of students taking precautions for club activities and adults doing the same for golf and barbecues [contributed to the uptick].”
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company found that about 40% of new personal accident insurance subscribers in July had also added optional coverage for heatstroke. It said that among the new subscribers, those under 20 years old and those over 70 years old stood out.
New insurance products are being developed and coverage is being expanded in succession. In June, a subsidiary of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. launched a new low-cost, short-term insurance product in cooperation with NTT Docomo Inc. that can be applied for via the “d-payment” smartphone app. Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. plans to incorporate optional coverage for heatstroke into all its personal accident insurance policies from next year.
Although the profit margin for heatstroke-related insurance is small for the companies, they have adopted an enthusiastic stance in anticipation of stable demand. Competition is expected to intensify in the future.
Consumers will need to carefully check their policies, as heatstroke may be included in the coverage of medical insurance policies they have already purchased.
