The Fourth Discussion on 'Running Huimin Insurance as Mutual Aid': The State of Online Mutual Aid Does Not Mean the Model Itself Has Fatal Flaws

I have previously published several articles proposing that Huimin Insurance could be operated along the lines of the online mutual aid model, and that this would bring significant advantages on many fronts. Many people have raised different views on this idea: the online mutual aid industry is now mired in difficulties, they say, which is proof enough that the mutual aid model itself has shortcomings, and therefore Huimin Insurance copying the same operating model is unlikely to get off the ground.

In earlier pieces I have analyzed in detail the core reasons the online mutual aid industry has reached its current state. As I see it, the industry's cooling and stunted development stem not from any fundamental problem with the mutual aid model itself, but far more from the combined effect of the era's backdrop and the industry environment. The online mutual aid platforms that survive today either lack the drive to grow or dare not expand at full strength for fear of policy and market concerns, and they have long been trapped in a vicious cycle of stagnation. This whole set of industry problems cannot be laid entirely at the door of the platforms' own slackness or insufficient effort.

The development of various private, non-state protection businesses in China depends heavily on official recognition and policy support; lacking a clear government position, most find it hard to advance steadily and develop soundly. The core predicament of the online mutual aid industry is that its industry positioning has long gone undefined by the government. After an earlier round of rectification and reshuffling, a number of platforms were shut down and cleared out, and the compliant platforms that remain still face ambiguous policy direction. For the surviving platforms, it is not publicly clear whether regulators encourage development or restrict expansion of scale; the market and the platforms can only guess. This uncertain industry environment directly makes platforms afraid to plan long-term or increase investment, and sound development is naturally out of the question.

By contrast, if the government took the lead and guided well-capitalized insurance companies to participate in operations, it would completely rewrite the state of the online mutual aid industry. This model could precisely remedy the three core shortcomings that online mutual aid was born with, addressing from the root the various problems the industry has long been criticized for, sharply improving the feasibility and stability of the mutual aid protection model, and making the three core pain points — trust, platform sustainability, and a basic floor of protection — vanish in an instant.

The first is public trust. From the standpoint of social perception and public psychology, private online mutual aid platforms have an inherent credibility gap. Such platforms carry a grassroots character and lack official endorsement; even if they keep investing in operations and service, they find it hard to build broad public trust, and their market appeal and persuasive power always hit a wall. A government-led Huimin Insurance mutual aid model, by contrast, carries official credibility and can easily win public acceptance, completely avoiding the core problem of missing trust — one of the central advantages of putting Huimin Insurance into a mutual aid model.

The second is sustainable platform operation and a basic floor. The biggest shortcoming of traditional online mutual aid today is its lack of long-term stable operating guarantees and reliable backing, which leaves both platform operations and user participation full of uncertainty. Government involvement and guidance can provide basic policy support and an operating floor for the mutual aid protection model, completely remedying the fatal flaws of unsecured and unstable operation in traditional online mutual aid.

In sum, the various difficulties facing the online mutual aid industry today are the result of multiple factors — the external environment, policy positioning, the nature of the operating entities, and more. They do not prove that the mutual aid model itself is flawed, and there is likewise no sufficient evidence that the mutual aid protection model suffers from fundamental, irreparable defects. A Huimin Insurance mutual aid model backed by government endorsement and professionally operated by insurers can fully avoid the ills of the traditional industry and achieve sound, sustainable development.