The Beijing local authority has launched an accident insurance project that guarantees that senior citizens can be compensated with as much as 200,000 yuan ($32,800) if they are involved in an accident in a public place.

The new system will help reduce worries by the senior’s family as well as good Samaritans who offer a helping hand, according to an article in the Beijing News, which is excerpted below.

By helping mitigate the individual financial risk of seniors with insurance, the plan targets the current long-standing malpractice in which accident victims or their families blackmail good Samaritans for medical service expenses or more.

Blackmailers act counter to basic social morality and deserve punishment, but if the accident insurance can help cover medical expenses, they might act differently, and crimes could be avoided.

The Beijing accident insurance plan is like a commercial plan but one that is subsidized by the local government and much cheaper than regular commercial insurance. In addition, local authorities will allocate funds with which the 70,000 senior citizens from low-income families can buy the insurance.

A normal society needs to apportion personal risks through reasonable social mechanisms. The mechanism should not only provide punishments for illegal conduct such as blackmailing good Samaritans but also a sound social security system for protecting the interests of the senior through joint efforts from the government, insurance companies and citizens’ cooperation.