I renewed my life insurance the other day here in Korea and in the process had a chance to glimpse a bit of the culture of insurance in Korea. One of the most striking aspects of private health insurance in Korea today is life expectancy. Samsung Life Insurance was willing to bet I could live to be a hundred, and was making such predictions for men in their forties in Korea. The thought was quite frightening. I certainly do not plan to live to be a hundred, and assume that would be impossible. But I do not know for sure. Look at how much has changed over the last few years.
How will we support all those old people–like myself–for that many years? Will we end up using up the resources that should be dedicated to our children as a result?
Obviously Samsung is assuming that there will be tremendous medical breakthroughs in the next twenty years that will make it possible to live for such an extended period of time. I suppose it sounds good, but I must admit I would be a bit concerned about what the larger implications are. After all, 7 billion people in the world cannot reasonably be expected to all live to be 100, or can they?
Another interesting service I came across was education insurance. The service seems to be taken quite seriously. Insurance to assure that the costs of education can be met regardless of circumstances. The development of such a service seems a clear indication of just how important education is to the futures of youth.