Med-tech Progress with the Policy and the Duty of Disclosure The Fluctuation of the Concept of the Illness

約款

疾病

契約前発病不担保条項

duty of disclosure

policy

disease

pre-existing condition clause

The Insurance Act passed the Diet in May 2008. Although the new law provides for injury and illness insurance contracts in addition to the traditional life and casualty insurance contracts, it includes no provision on how to construe and define the term "illness" as used in those contracts. However, the rapid development of medical technology in recent years once again asks us a compelling question of what illness is. This question has begun to have implications for the modality of risk selection. So far, the concept of illness as subject of the duty of disclosure has been changing with the progress of medical science, largely due to the development of medical technology applicable to individual diseases. Developments in recent years, however, are calling into question the substance of illness itself. The fluctuation of the concept of illness created by the evolving medical technology not only blurs the scope of risk selection but also raises a fundamental question of what risks insurers are supposed to underwrite at all. This paper addresses the impact of progress in medical technology on risk selection, with reference to relevant provisions of the Insurance Act.