Isolation Exemption Insurance Policy for Epidemic Risk Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current insurance systems fail to effectively address the complex risk assessment and compensation for damages caused by infectious disease spreaders during epidemics, leading to unfair penalties and economic burdens, as they lack a method to balance the rights of contagious individuals with the need for compensation for those injured.
Innovation Solution
An isolation exemption insurance policy (IEIP) system that calculates disease damage payments based on risk groups, assigning fault between spreaders and injured individuals, using a computer-implemented method to gather and store epidemiological data to determine payments due to spreaders' fault, allowing individuals to opt out of complete isolation with insurance coverage for damages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If mandatory isolations (NPIs) are imposed to pause virus spreading growth, then virus transmission is reduced, but individual rights are violated and colossal economic damages occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of isolation status from mandatory to optional by introducing insurance coverage. Individuals can choose to remain isolated (receiving full protection) or be exempt from isolation (with insurance coverage for potential damages). This transforms the binary parameter of isolation compliance into a multi-state system where economic trade-offs are explicitly managed through insurance premiums and potential payouts.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an insurance company as an intermediary between the state (imposing NPIs) and individuals (affected by isolation requirements). The insurer mediates the conflict by providing financial compensation to third parties if an exempt individual causes harm, thereby enabling individuals to opt out of isolation without completely transferring risk to society. This intermediary mechanism resolves the contradiction by distributing risk economically rather than through forced compliance.
2Ease of operation
If isolation exemptions are allowed without insurance coverage, then individual freedom is increased, but unfair penalties and economic burdens fall on injured parties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by requiring individuals to secure insurance coverage before obtaining isolation exemption. Rather than allowing freedom without recourse and then seeking compensation after harm occurs, the system pre-establishes financial protection mechanisms. The insurance policy is obtained in advance, ensuring that compensation resources are already allocated and ready if the exempt individual causes harm, thereby maintaining compensation fairness while enabling freedom.
3Ease of manufacture
If current insurance systems are used to assess risk and compensation, then existing infrastructure is utilized, but fair assessment of spreader fault and compensation amounts cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the fault assessment into distinct components: (1) baseline risk factors inherent to the disease and general population, (2) individual-specific factors related to the exempt person's behavior and circumstances, and (3) third-party vulnerability factors. This segmentation allows insurance companies to use their existing actuarial infrastructure while achieving more precise fault assessment by isolating and evaluating each contributing factor separately rather than treating all risk as uniform.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by tailoring the fault assessment and compensation framework to specific local conditions, including regional epidemiological data, local vulnerability patterns, and jurisdiction-specific legal requirements. Rather than applying a uniform national standard, the system allows insurance companies and courts to adjust assessment parameters locally, achieving measurement precision adapted to local realities while utilizing the general insurance infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
Computer-implemented method for calculating disease damage payments due to spreaders fault associated to an isolation exemption insurance policy (IEIP). Based upon an assessment of expected disease damages and the share fault of injured and spreaders for not isolating, insurer companies agree a method to computationally gather and store epidemiological data to calculate payments made to and by the Spreaders fund to cover the portion of disease damages suffered by the injured that are fault of spreaders. Whenever a location suffers an infectious disease epidemic with significant presymptomatic contagions, and mandatory isolations are imposed to asymptomatic individuals to reduce spreading, such individuals might be offered an IEIP to avoid those mandatory isolations. The computer-implemented method can be updated over time. The portion of disease damages that is fault of the injured is covered by each insurer.