By EISUKE EGUCHI/ Staff Writer
February 10, 2022 at 18:35 JST
The head office of Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. in Tokyo (Provided by Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.)
Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. tripled its premiums against novel coronavirus infection amid fears of a surge in payouts to policyholders following a spike in COVID-19 cases.
“We could receive more insurance claims than expected as we didn’t anticipate that so many people would take out insurance,” said a company official.
Sompo Japan pays 50,000 yen ($433) to every policyholder diagnosed with COVID-19 by a doctor under its insurance program offered through a smartphone app for the online payment service PayPay.
The company on Feb. 10 increased the insurance premium for three months from 500 yen to 1,500 yen. The premium for six months went up from 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen, while that for a year climbed from 2,000 yen to 6,000 yen.
The number of policyholders has been rising with the spread of the Omicron variant since Sompo Japan started offering the program last Dec. 16.
The figure topped 200,000 on Feb. 1 and had already exceeded 350,000 by Feb. 9. The convenience of taking out the insurance via smartphone also helped push up the number.
A surge in infections also prompted other insurance companies offering similar programs to suspend their sales or raise premiums.
Taiju Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Nippon Life Insurance Co., stopped selling its COVID-19 insurance on Feb. 4.
Dai-ichi Smart Small-amount and Short-term Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., raised premiums for its COVID-19 insurance by roughly four times on Feb. 1.
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