My Old Illness Has Nothing to Do with the Cancer—So Why Was My Mutual Aid Application Still Rejected?

Many people do not understand: my past minor illness has nothing to do with the cancer I have now, so why does mutual aid still not pay out?

The reason is actually simple: the only precondition for a mutual aid society to keep going is that everyone's health risk is roughly the same, so that everyone shares risk fairly.

If a group has many high-risk people and many with abnormal health, low-risk people will keep losing out, paying in continuously without ever being able to use the protection, and in the end they can only choose to quit. Once healthy people leave, the mutual aid mechanism simply cannot run over the long term.

So the platform must set uniform health conditions for joining.

But there are thousands upon thousands of diseases, and the minor and major illnesses and potential risks cannot possibly all be listed. The platform cannot distinguish them one by one—which minor illness will lead to cancer and which will not—nor can it judge, case by case, whether two diseases are related.

It can only adopt the simplest, fairest approach: as long as there was a physical condition listed in the rules before joining, regardless of whether it is related to the current cancer, the person does not qualify for mutual aid.

Many people think this is unreasonable, but in fact it is precisely the opposite. If a claim could be paid merely because an old illness and the cancer "show no direct relationship," then everyone who knows they have a hidden health problem and a higher probability of future illness would deliberately join mutual aid.

In the end it would become: high-risk people come in and claim, healthy people lose out and leave, and mutual aid simply cannot operate. So it is not that a past minor illness caused the current cancer; it is that one's health before joining did not meet the uniform standard. This seemingly strict rule exists to ensure fairness for everyone, and is the only way mutual aid can run over the long term.

So does having a past illness mean you cannot join mutual aid? No! Taking into account the mutual aid needs of people with pre-existing conditions, KangAi Commune has several targeted aid societies—for example, the "Mild-Illness Members' Mutual Aid Society" allows people who have had mild illnesses to join and receive mutual aid. KangAi Commune believes this is one of the few ways to keep a mutual aid society fair. So we remind members: joining the right aid society at KangAi Commune matters a great deal.