Korean Job Discussion Forums

[K-in-C]

Here is a consideration for those thinking of heading over to Asia to teach.

Check out this article:

http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/2003/05/16/sars_insurance030516

Stay well...

Kate

[Real Reality]

Canadian company is denying life insurance to people travelling to South Korea, a country with only two suspected cases of SARS.

[K-in-C]

Yeah, go figure. :roll:

K

[The Lemon]

(Reposting this in Kate's thread)

How mind-crushingly stupid is this: Due to the SARS outbreak, one Canadian life insurance company is rejecting new applicants who will live in "southeast Asia, including South Korea".

South Korea has three suspected cases of SARS, and no deaths. In Toronto, 24 people have died, and hundreds more have been infected.

"South Korea is a concern because it's in Asia."

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/05/16/sars_insurance030516

[William Beckerson]

Nothing beats insurance as the worlds greatest con-job. Not even religion, so that's saying something.

[The Cube]

..

[Homer]

SARS in Korea is "inevitable"?
Thats rich!
3 suspected cases for now, SARS has been on the rampage for a while now..I think they have it contained in Korea. There is no travel between China and Korea now, or almost none and travellers are meticulisly checked. I would say SARS in Korea it not impossible but the odds are quite low.
This insurance company is jut being cheap....

[igotthisguitar]

>. Insurance companies are such frickin' crooks anyways.
Screw em'

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Teachers in Korea don't have lives.

[ersatzprofessor]

That Clarica decision sounds like the decision of some panicked senior underwriter somewhere, spilling coffee and cigarette butts all over her morning newspaper while she springs up to phone "J**s Chr**t! , this SARS thing is the new AIDs! Stop everything!"

Nothing scares life insurance companies like diseases that pick off the young and healthy and for which no mortality tables have been devised yet. This is probably why they overreacted. They simply can't calculate the risk and so they don't know how much premium to collect to offset it. AIDs just about did in more than a few American insurers for that very reason. And for the going term rates for twenty something healthy people being what they are these days, and with the returns on investing the premiums so low, and the market segment effected so small, why take the risk?

Are insurance companies all crooks and con men? I don't know. I was an insurance agent for awhile and I can't remember conning anyone. I can also remember many times where my company bent over backwards in iffy circumstances to cover clients losses. I think maybe it depends on the company and especially on how good your agent is. Insurance is a promise to pay a certain sum if certain specified things happen, nothing more and nothing less. That's why having a good agent who explains the ins and outs of your policy to you is so important. But that takes two people- I can't count the number of times trying to explain holes in coverage to people whose only thought seemed to be.."this guy's trying to trick me into paying more money". Then, of course, when on occassion precisely what was warned about happened, these same people would invariably try to lie their way through.."Nobody told me about this, you're all a bunch of crooks!" Luckily we all keep notes, and this is also why insurance agents make you sign or initial every piece of paper you go through.

It's a funny thing about the insurance business. It seems to be one of those little areas in life where some people feel free to be rude and dishonest in ways they would not dream of in other circumstances. I guess maybe its because of that attitude, that we're all crooks and con men anyway so we don't have to be treated like human beings. Or maybe its just the unpleasant nature of the business. Who wants to part with money they could enjoy now for a piece of paper that will only help them if things go bad later? Or, in life insurance, after they are dead and gone altogether.

But I will say this. The entire enterprise of insurance, if not dishonest, is completely prejudiced. The insured is viewed as a member of a certain group or category, and nothing else. So, for example, if you are 18 in Alberta and looking to buy car insurance, it doesn't matter if you are the best, most conscientious driver in the world, you are still going to get nailed and nailed hard. There's also very little loyalty shown by the company to longterm clients who have a short run of bad luck. Suddenly they're high risk, money losing propositions and the company will either want skyhigh premiums or will back out altogether. That seems to be just the nature of the beast. If people don't like it, they should try to come up with something better.

[The Lemon]

[Circus Monkey]

Well, I had a hard time getting life insurance (term) while in Korea. Never mind that I passed the physical in pretty good shape. Most companies ran the other way when they found out that I was going to work overseas.

CM

[ersatzprofessor]

Lemon,

Yes, of course the decision was based on ignorance. That's what I meant with my little imagined episode. I have had to deal with panicked underwriters before, I know what they're like. For example, the region I was working in had two freak woodstove fires in one winter - so I had to talk my company out of refusing ALL new business with primary wood heat. Don't overestimate how logically these companies actually operate.

But, to be fair, there is some logic involved here. Because underwriting IS based on statistics (as well as on gut feeling, personal relations, chicken entrail reading and other exact sciences) , in situations where none exist - that is where for whatever reason, including plain ignorance, they feel they simply can not calculate the risk, they will put the brakes on. Better to turn down a few thousand in premium than having your ass in a sling for the half million dollar loss. The market segment involved is so small that they would rather just withdraw from the market altogether than take the time and expense involved research would require.

The 18 year old example had nothing to do with that, by the way. It was a completely off topic little rant on the insurance business. Sorry, but how often do you think I get to talk about insurance? ...I'll take my chances where I find them.

Just the same though, I'm sure people worried about life insurance can find insurance if they look hard enough. They may want to go to a large brokerage who deals with a lot of companies. There may be a company out there who is willing to take on the risk, although there may well be an extra charge.