AIA, Heungkuk customers' claims rejected most

By Yoon Ja-young

Nearly 350,000 insurance policyholders had their claims rejected by insurance companies over the past four years, data from the Financial Supervisory Service shows.

AIA Life Insurance and Heungkuk Fire and Marine Insurance customers were the most likely to have their claims rejected.

According to the data submitted to Rep. Min Byung-doo of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, insurance companies refused 347,502 claims between January 2011 and September 2014. That amounts to one out of every 100 claims being refused.

Among the life insurance firms, the refusal rate was highest for AIA, with 3.3 percent of claims refused during that period. KDB Life Insurance followed with a 2.3 percent refusal rate, and Tongyang Life Insurance, 2.1 percent.

Among non-life insurers, Heungkuk Fire and Marine Insurance topped the list by rejecting 1.6 percent of claims, followed by Meritz at 1.2 percent.

The lawmaker said the insurance companies were hurting their customer base by ignoring due process or not providing enough explanation of their products.

“The incomplete sales which occur often here, and the insurers’ custom of trying to cut insurance payments anyway, is not only hurting the good policyholders but also damaging people’s trust in the insurance,” the lawmaker said.

“The financial regulator needs to thoroughly examine whether such refusals are unduly damaging the insurance policyholders," he said.