What are the main differences between commercial insurance and social insurance

Social insurance refers to a social security system in which the state compulsorily collects insurance premiums from citizens through legislative means to form a social insurance fund, which is used to provide basic living security for the members who lose their working ability or job opportunities due to old age, disease, childbirth, disability, death and unemployment. Commercial insurance refers to the compensation provided by the insurance company for the economic losses caused by accidents or casualties.

Obviously, the insurance object of social insurance is people, and the insurance object of commercial insurance is both people and things. This is an important difference between social insurance and commercial insurance. In addition, the main differences between social insurance and commercial insurance are as follows:

(1) Social insurance is compulsory while commercial insurance is voluntary.

(2) The goal of social insurance is to cover the whole society without selectivity. Commercial insurance is more selective, unwilling to cover the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled, and the low-income.

(3) Social insurance institutions are non-profit, while commercial insurance companies are profitable.

(4) Social insurance is the behavior of the government, which is monopolistic, while commercial insurance is the behavior of enterprises, which is competitive.

(5) Social insurance has unified standardization, while commercial insurance has autonomy.

(6) Social insurance is fair while commercial insurance is efficient.

(7) Social insurance has security, while commercial insurance should make high return, high risk investment and be responsible for its own profits and losses.