The Cabinet yesterday approved an amendment to the Insurance Act (保險法) that aims to prevent the courts from seizing the life insurance policies of people in debt.
The amendment says that if the payout for the life insurance policy or other eligible policies of the insured person is less than 1.2 times the minimum monthly living wage for three consecutive months, the insurance policy should not be seized or terminated.
Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Huo-yen (蔡火炎) said that would amount to NT$73,365 in Taipei, NT$60,840 in New Taipei City, NT$60,366 in Taoyuan, NT$57,744 in Kaohsiung, NT$55,854 in Tainan, NT$57,876 in Taichung, NT$51,627 in Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, and NT$55,854 for all other cities and counties.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
The government ordered the termination of 928,000 insurance policies from January 2023 to September last year, Tsai said.
The increase in the number of insurance policies being terminated originated from a Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that cited a precedent in 2019, during which the courts’ authority to order insurance companies to end life insurance policies of people in debt was affirmed, he said.
Thirty percent were life insurance policies, while 70 percent were casualty insurance or health insurance, Tsai said.
The Supreme Court ruling was for life insurance policies, but other insurance policies, including health policies and policies with a low termination payout, were also included, he said.
While the termination of insurance policies helped repay debts, it also meant that the indebted no longer had additional medical insurance, Tsai said.
The termination of insurance policies to repay outstanding debts also took up a lot of time and personnel, he said.
About 46,000 policies have been terminated, significantly infringing the guarantees the affected people have built for themselves, he said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
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