Insurance Company Offers Protection for Those Sued after Helping the Elderly

Insurance Company Offers Protection for Those Sued after Helping the Elderly
Oct 22, 2015 By eChinacities.com

50,000 Chinese have already signed up for Hua’an Property Insurance Company’s newest offering: insurance for helping the elderly.

The insurance will protect Chinese against being sued for helping an elderly person when they are injured in a public space. In the past, elderly Chinese have sued their helpers, claiming that they only helped because the accident was their fault in the first place. Some even hurt themselves on purpose to sue those who help out later. This phenomenon is known as pengci in Chinese.

Hua’an’s new insurance package only costs three yuan for a year. Those with insurance get receive up to 20,000 Yuan for legal costs associated with a pengci scam. The insurance can be purchased through Alipay using real-name registration. In order to collect the insurance, one must have had good intentions when trying to help out.

“My mother no longer has to worry about me being a good person,” said one Netizen after purchasing the insurance. “There is no longer any pressure on me when crossing the street because of the insurance,” said another.

Hua’an told customers that when faced with a pengci scam, to immediately dial 95556 to report. Victims of the scam must submit a court judgement, ruling or mediation and documents showing legal expenses in order to claim insurance. Hua’an will then investigate the claim and make appropriate adjustments. 

Whether a customer wins or loses the case in court does not matter. If a customer racks up legal costs after helping the elderly, the insurance company will cover it.

As of October 20, more than 50,000 policies were sold.

The People’s Daily reported that since October 2005, in 149 cases in which passerby were sued for helping others, about 80% were ruled in favor of the helper rather than the “victim.” However, over the last two years, the helper won out in over 90% of legal battles.

Source: thepaper.cn

Warning:The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: Hua’an insurance Chinese insurance pengci scam

1 Comments

All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate.

Karajorma

This is quite a good idea. It doesn't cover the money a scammer would get from winning a court case (which might encourage more people to try it) but instead covers legal costs which makes victims more likely to take the issue to court (at which point the scammer has to perjure himself and basically give all the evidence need to convict him if proof such as camera footage is found). It is a pity such insurance is needed though.

Oct 22, 2015 22:35 Report Abuse