Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention and Social Work and Social Administration Department, The University of Hong Kong, P. R. C.
Crisis. 2010;31(4):217-23. doi: 10.1027/0027-5910/a000023.
We study the impact of suicide-exclusion periods, common in life insurance policies in Australia, on suicide and accidental death rates for life-insured individuals. If a life-insured individual dies by suicide during the period of suicide exclusion, commonly 13 months, the sum insured is not paid.
We examine whether a suicide-exclusion period affects the timing of suicides. We also analyze whether accidental deaths are more prevalent during the suicide-exclusion period as life-insured individuals disguise their death by suicide. We assess the relationship between the insured sum and suicidal death rates.
Crude and age-standardized rates of suicide, accidental death, and overall death, split by duration since the insured first bought their insurance policy, were computed.
There were significantly fewer suicides and no significant spike in the number of accidental deaths in the exclusion period for Australian life insurance data. More suicides, however, were detected for the first 2 years after the exclusion period. Higher insured sums are associated with higher rates of suicide.
Adverse selection in Australian life insurance is exacerbated by including a suicide-exclusion period. Extension of the suicide-exclusion period to 3 years may prevent some "insurance-induced" suicides - a rationale for this conclusion is given.
我们研究了澳大利亚寿险政策中常见的自杀除外期对被保险人身故和意外死亡率的影响。如果被保险人身故是自杀且发生在自杀除外期（通常为 13 个月）内，则不支付保险金。
我们检验自杀除外期是否会影响自杀的发生时间。我们还分析了在自杀除外期内是否更常见意外死亡，因为被保险人为了掩饰自杀而伪装成意外死亡。我们评估了保险金额与自杀死亡率之间的关系。
我们根据被保险首次购买保险单后的时间长短，计算了未调整和年龄标准化的自杀、意外死亡和总死亡的粗率。
澳大利亚寿险数据显示，在自杀除外期内，自杀和意外死亡人数显著减少，且没有明显的意外死亡人数增加。然而，除外期后 2 年内检测到的自杀人数更多。更高的保险金额与更高的自杀率相关。
澳大利亚寿险中包括自杀除外期加剧了逆向选择。将自杀除外期延长至 3 年可能会预防一些“保险诱导”的自杀——给出了这种结论的理由。
