Insurance overview
Mechanism and terminology
Insurance is a system in which a large number of people
share insurance premiums, and when an insurance accident occurs, insurance
money is paid to make up for the damage caused. Insurance accidents covered by
insurance include various events such as traffic accidents, marine accidents,
fires, earthquakes, and deaths, and deal with risks such as incidents,
accidents, and disasters that disrupt the stability of human life.
A contract for the purpose of setting up insurance is called
an insurance contract, and as a party to the insurance contract, the person who
is obliged to pay the insurance premium is the policyholder, and the person who
undertakes to pay the insurance money in the event of an insurance accident. It
is called an insurer. The Insurance Law, which will come into effect on April
1, 2010, states that one of the parties has a certain reason for an insurance
contract, regardless of the name of the insurance contract, mutual aid
contract, or any other name. As a condition, it promises to provide property
benefits (in the case of life insurance contracts and fixed-amount insurance
contracts for accidents and illnesses, it is limited to payment of money. A
contract that promises to pay insurance premiums (including mutual aid
premiums; the same shall apply hereinafter) according to the possibility of an
event occurring. Is defined. A company that operates an insurance business
(insurance business) as an insurer is called an insurance company, and is
regulated by the Insurance Business Law (Act No. 105 of 1995) in Japan. In
addition, the academic discipline that studies the legal field related to
insurance and the laws and regulations related to insurance are collectively
called insurance law in a broad sense. In Japan today, insurance is stipulated
in the Commercial Code (Volume 2, Chapter 10), etc., and there was no law
called the Insurance Law, but the Insurance Law, which is a modern review of
the provisions of the Commercial Code, was published in 2008. It was enacted on
May 30, 2008, and promulgated on June 6, 2008 (Act No. 56 of 2008).
Mutual aid provided by various mutual aid organizations is a
type of insurance. In Japan, insurance handled by insurance companies licensed
under the Insurance Business Law is called insurance, and insurance handled by
cooperatives, mutual aid associations and other organizations is called mutual
aid.
history car insurance cheapcar insurance floridacar insurance quote comparisoncar insurance compare
Insurance is a mechanism based on the idea of the law of
large numbers, which is the basic law of probability theory (see the section on
insurance principles for details). The law of large numbers is a theorem
established in the 18th century, but the sprouting of insurance is the
collegium in ancient Rome and the guild in medieval and early modern Europe. ,
English: guild) and so on. Since then, financial transactions have become more
sophisticated among traders with advanced capital accumulation, and marine
insurance provided in Italian cities in the latter half of the 14th century has
almost the same mechanism as today's insurance contracts.
From ancient times in Japan, there have been systems similar
to insurance, such as company storehouses / Yoshikura, Tanomoshiko, Nagagane,
and maritime contractors. However, today's insurance began with the
introduction of Western insurance systems during the Meiji Restoration. In 1859
(Ansei 6), a foreign insurance company began underwriting fire insurance and
marine insurance for foreigners in Yokohama, which had just opened. In 1867
(Keio 3rd year), Yukichi Fukuzawa added "Life Insurance" (life
insurance) and "Fire Insurance" as "Disaster Assurance" in
the appendix of "Western Travel Guide". The mechanism of "fire
insurance" and "marine insurance" (marine insurance) was widely
introduced. Soseki Natsume also recommends the spread of the insurance system in
his book. In 1879 (Meiji 12), Tokio Marine Insurance Company (currently Tokio
Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.), and in 1881 (Meiji 14), Meiji
Life Insurance Company (currently Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company). It was
founded and is now fully insured.
Classification
Insurance can be categorized from various perspectives. Here
are some examples.
Public insurance operated by the government such as the
national and local governments and private insurance operated by private
companies (private insurance)
Voluntary insurance voluntarily taken out by policyholders
and compulsory insurance required
Public insurance that is part of the social security system
and private insurance that individuals voluntarily join
Commercial insurance for profit and mutual insurance for
mutual aid
Human insurance (Jinhoken) that covers accidents that occur
to the human body such as life, death, injury and illness, and physical
insurance (Butsuhoken) that covers loss or damage to things.
Marine insurance that covers damages caused to ships and
cargo due to voyage accidents and land insurance that is various types of land
insurance
Corporate insurance with companies as the main policyholders
and household insurance with individuals as the main policyholders
Public and private insurance
Public insurance includes social insurance, which is
insurance as social policy or social welfare, and industrial insurance, which
is insurance as economic policy. In Japan, there are the following systems as
public insurance.
Social insurance
Health insurance system (employee insurance, national health
insurance, medical system for the elderly, etc.
Public pension insurance (national pension, welfare pension,
etc.)
Public long-term care insurance
Labor insurance (employment insurance, workers' accident
compensation insurance (workers' accident compensation insurance))
Crew insurance
Industrial insurance
Agricultural insurance, fishery insurance, fishing boat
insurance, export insurance, etc.
Private insurance is insurance sold and operated by private
insurance companies, and mainly deals with life insurance and non-life
insurance. Life insurance is insurance that pays a certain amount of insurance
money for the life and death of a person, and non-life insurance is insurance
that covers damage that may occur due to a certain accident.
According to the Insurance Business Law, insurance companies
that sell insurance in Japan are life insurance companies that have received a
life insurance business license, non-life insurance companies that have
received a non-life insurance business license, and foreign insurers that have
been licensed by the Prime Minister. It is divided into insurance companies. In
addition, Japanese insurance companies include insurance companies that take
the form of joint-stock companies for the purpose of profit (attribution of
profit and loss to shareholders) and insurance companies that take the form of
mutual aid (attribution of profit and loss to policyholders). There is a
company. Mutual companies are a corporate form that is only accepted by
insurance companies, and are theoretically positioned as non-profit
corporations (intermediary corporations). Currently, mutual companies exist
only in life insurance companies, and non-life insurance mutual companies do
not exist.
However, the new Insurance Business Law, which was
promulgated in 1995 (1995) and came into effect in 1996 (1996), brought the
mutual company and the joint-stock company close to each other in many
respects, and made the mutual company and the joint-stock company close to each
other. The difference between the two is not so large because it is possible to
change the organization on both sides (until then, it was possible to change
the organization from a joint-stock company to a mutual company). In addition,
the new Insurance Business Law stipulates the insurance field (so-called
third-sector insurance) that both life insurance companies and non-life
insurance companies can handle together. Third-sector insurance is insurance
that spans both the life insurance and non-life insurance fields, such as
medical insurance, long-term care insurance, and cancer insurance.
Even if it is a private insurance, there are some insurances
such as automobile liability insurance (automobile liability insurance) and
earthquake insurance that are defined for social policy purposes. In addition,
simple insurance (simple life insurance), which was once run by the government,
was one of the public insurance. However, since October 1, 2007, Japan Post
Insurance Co., Ltd. handles it, so it is classified as private insurance.
In addition, there is insurance called reinsurance.
Reinsurance is insurance for the purpose of having another insurer insure part
or all of the liability assumed by the insurer under the insurance contract
(primary insurance). Reinsurance has the effect of further enhancing the risk
diversification function of insurance. Reinsurance is not life insurance
because it is insurance coverage, but life insurance reinsurance can be handled
by life insurance companies as an exception. Reinsurance is operated as private
insurance, and there is also reinsurance as public insurance (Article 3 of the
Earthquake Insurance Law).
