Betting against pandemics: Ethical implications of the “COVID Claimania” in Taiwan, 2020-2022

Abstract

Among measures tackling the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the selling of private insurance policies covering individual infection is overlooked by the ethics literature. To record the “COVID Claimania” in Taiwan and to assess its ethical implications, we collected 38 policies from 10 insurers sold between January 2020 and May 2022 and found that their risk calculation of the COVID-19 prevalence ranged from 0.5% to 11.08%. In reality, the prevalence by the end of 2022 was 37% in Taiwan. Selling private insurance policies is ethically problematic in three ways. First, it represents the insurance industry's irresponsible risk-taking profit-seeking behaviors. Second, it would jeopardize the effectiveness of the disease-prevention measures by inducing uncontrollable moral hazards. Third, it would expose the insurance companies to unbearable financial risks and cause substantial negative external impacts. The government should intervene in the private insurance market in preparation for future public health emergencies.