Taikang Online Launches 9.9 Yuan Smoking Cessation Insurance, Opening New Collaboration Opportunities for Digital Health Companies

Late on the night of May 26, a piece of news broke in the innovative healthcare circle: Taikang Online launched a highly unexpected insurance product—Taikang’s 9.9 Yuan Smoking Cessation Manager—which has drawn significant attention from numerous companies in the innovative healthcare sector.

Based on the content displayed on the webpage, this insurance product is primarily targeted at China’s 300 million smokers. Its core strategy revolves around social circles of acquaintances, facilitating smoking cessation through peer supervision via a six-step process: premium payment, scientific assessment, expert consultation, personalized planning, cessation check-ins, and weekly monitoring. The premium is only RMB 9.9. Upon completion of the program, participants who successfully quit smoking are eligible for maximum cancer insurance coverage of RMB 12,000, while those who do not successfully quit are eligible for maximum cancer insurance coverage of RMB 8,000.

Of greater concern is that the smoking cessation program associated with this insurance product receives technical guidance from the Tobacco Control and Smoking Cessation Center at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, while smoking cessation management services are provided by authorized domestic smoking cessation clinics. On March 21, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially approved the establishment of the Collaborating Center for Smoking Cessation and Respiratory Disease Prevention at China-Japan Friendship Hospital (hereinafter referred to as the “Collaborating Center”). On May 26, the same day Taikang Online launched its RMB 9.9 smoking cessation insurance product, China-Japan Friendship Hospital held an inauguration ceremony and press conference for the Collaborating Center, announcing the innovative partnership between smoking cessation initiatives and the insurance industry.

This page also reveals the core features of two additional insurance products offered by Taikang Online for smokers. One is the “90-Day Professional Physician-Led Comprehensive Smoking Cessation Management Plan,” whose key highlight is significantly enhanced involvement of professional physicians, including personalized smoking cessation plans, ongoing supervision via WeChat groups led by professional physicians, and expert guidance on medication use. The other is the Smoking Cessation Medication Coverage Plan, which focuses on providing smoking cessation medications at lower prices and achieving higher abstinence rates.

This information indicates that Taikang Online will provide more comprehensive and in-depth insurance services to the 300 million smokers in China, as this population is at higher risk for numerous diseases, including those affecting the cardiopulmonary and digestive systems, as well as malignant tumors.

Pathophysiological studies have confirmed that the essence of smoking addiction is nicotine dependence. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified this dependence as a disease in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) (F17.2, categorized under mental and behavioral disorders).

According to relevant statistics, more than 1 million people die each year from smoking-related diseases, and approximately 100,000 people die from conditions caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. Data from the World Health Organization indicates that 85% of lung cancers, 30% of pancreatic cancers, 25% of leukemias, 20% of colorectal cancers, and 12% of renal cell carcinomas are attributable to smoking. Quitting smoking before age 30 can reduce cancer risk to levels comparable to those of never-smokers; quitting before age 50 can halve the cancer risk compared with those who continue to smoke.

To this end, VCBeat contacted Taikang Online, and according to insiders,Taikang Online will consecutively launch three smoking cessation insurance products.Following the launch of its “9.9 Yuan Smoking Cessation Insurance” product, Taikang Online introduced the “90-Day Smoking Cessation Clinic Coverage Plan” and the “Smoking Cessation Medication Coverage Plan” in mid-June. Together, these three products form a comprehensive “Scientific Smoking Cessation Solution.” The low-threshold “9.9 Yuan Smoking Cessation Insurance” provides users with scientific assessments of their smoking habits and weekly evaluations of tobacco dependence, while fostering a supportive environment for quitting through a 90-day check-in program. The “90-Day Smoking Cessation Clinic Coverage Plan” and the “Smoking Cessation Medication Coverage Plan” offer enhanced medical services, including access to professional smoking cessation clinics or telephone consultations at accredited medical institutions, guidance from specialist physicians via WeChat groups, expert medication advice, pulmonary function testing, and carbon monoxide testing.

According to VCBeat’s analysis, Taikang Online’s primary objective in launching this initiative is to engage the smoking population through quit-smoking insurance, leverage the expertise of professional medical institutions to provide services to smokers, and thereby gain entry into backend pre-disease management for specific conditions, ultimately safeguarding public health. Therefore,Numerous in vitro diagnostics and gene sequencing companies whose core business is early screening for healthy populations, as well as smart hardware manufacturers, health checkup service providers, and internet healthcare enterprises with resources from professional medical institutions, may have the opportunity to collaborate with Taikang Online and gain access to traffic channels.

For detailed information on Taikang Online’s Smoking Cessation Insurance, please scan the QR code below.