Hanwha Life launches dementia trust product with no rider fees before diagnosis

Hanwha Life Insurance said Tuesday it has launched a dementia-focused money market trust product, called the "Dementia Care MMT," designed to protect patients' assets and cover long-term care costs when dementia strikes.

The MMT is a low-risk trust product that allows flexible deposits and withdrawals while investing primarily in safe fixed-income instruments such as repurchase agreement bonds. It builds on a standard MMT by adding a mandatory rider for moderate-to-severe dementia. Customers use it as a regular MMT until a cognitive impairment of moderate severity or above — rated CDR 2 or higher — is diagnosed, at which point the rider activates and funds are disbursed.

At enrollment, customers and their trust administrators agree in advance on how funds will be paid out. Once a dementia diagnosis is made, the trust administrator can file care expense claims directly against the MMT balance on the customer's behalf.

Three payout options are available: a lump-sum payment, a monthly fixed payment over a designated period, and a special payment that reimburses actual costs incurred at hospitals and care facilities. The proportion allocated to each payout method is also set in advance.

No separate rider fee is charged before a dementia diagnosis, keeping costs low for customers. While healthy, the customer's assets are managed like a standard MMT with no additional fees; the rider commission applies only from the point at which a diagnosis certificate is submitted and the care fund disbursement service begins.

The product was conceived to help manage what is known as "dementia money" — ensuring that a patient's assets are not frozen due to cognitive decline but remain available for their own care costs. According to the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, the scale of dementia money in South Korea is estimated to grow from 154 trillion won ($109 billion) in 2023 to 488 trillion won by 2050.

The Dementia Care MMT is available for in-person enrollment at Hanwha Life Insurance customer centers nationwide.

"The Dementia Care MMT is an extension of our dementia care service, which aims to take responsibility for asset management even after the onset of dementia," said Lee Jong-ho, head of marketing at Hanwha Life Insurance. "We will build a comprehensive solution that goes beyond early detection and treatment coverage to provide a genuine financial safety net."