
Discrepancy between theory and practice
Analysts explore several reasons for the discrepancy between
theory and practice. On the demand side, they suggest that the
standard model of utility maximization needs to be extended to
take account of some findings of behavioral economic research. For
example, individuals appear to be averse to loss of any kind and
will pay far more than the expected loss to protect against even
small losses. Similarly, individuals often greatly overestimate
the negative experience from a loss. On the supply side, the
authors argue that insurers are often risk averse and feel unable
to diversify their risks, as in the case of terrorism (where
events may be immensely costly and highly correlated) and
long-term health care insurance. The solution to this supply
problem, they argue, is to encourage risk-spreading beyond the
"narrow confines of primary insurance and reinsurance" to include
financial instruments that tap the enormous pool of insurance
dollars in global financial markets.
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No event till date has drawn public attention of all of us on
the importance of insurance as intensely as the September 11
terrorist attacks. That disaster led virtually all insurers to
withdraw or seek to withdraw coverage for terrorist-related
events which most states approved. As a result Terrorism
Reinsurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) came into act Under which the
federal government agreed to pay for 90 percent of an
insurer's losses after the insurer first absorbed losses up to
7 percent of its earned premiums. TRIA will expire next year
and its appropriate time to review the act. Does really this
insurance and capital markets could not really absorb large,
even catastrophic, losses without undue stress. Some of the
most common arguments in favor of direct government
intervention into the terrorism insurance market include the
difficulty of forecasting future losses, the magnitude of
losses and the fact that many people will rationally forgo
insurance because they believe the government will bail them
out after a major loss. These arguments and finds are most
deficient because they fail to explain why the private market
solution is inefficient.
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Brokers and the insurance on disputed coverage
Today insurers seem more prone than ever to contesting large
claims called as "non-verifiable losses" and seek to explain
how insurance brokers play a role in resolving—or
preventing—the disputes. Insurers often try to prevent
disputes. Because they make an investment in acquiring
information about their larger customers, and do not want to
lose them, insurers have incentives to make reasonable offers
to pay non-verifiable losses and thus avoid disagreements.
Some insurers might also assist their customers in controlling
losses by providing engineering or risk-reduction services. In
short, the highly concentrated nature of the brokerage
industry tends to work in favor of insureds if and when they
experience non-verifiable losses. This may be the rare
exception where a highly concentrated market structure works
in favor of customers rather than producers |
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The crisis in medical malpractice
In several states around the nation, medical malpractice
insurance has become either prohibitively expensive or totally
unavailable. It is difficult to sue physicians for non
economic damages suffered by patients. Insurers take steps to
limit their own risks, most prominently by replacing the
"occurrence" policy (which covered malpractice as long as it
occurred during the policy period) with a "claims-made" policy
(covering only those claims filed during the policy period).
Moreover, doctors began to self-insure by forming their own
mutual companies and "risk retention groups" to cover their
malpractice liabilities. In his view, what is needed is a more
realistic definition of malpractice, which acknowledges that
even when physicians take all reasonable precautions, the
innovative and experimental treatments that modern medical
science makes possible and that patients demand do not always
produce the desired result. |
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Thus, Insurance is too important to the fabric of the American
economy and indeed to our society. If individuals and businesses
could not obtain insurance against various causes of financial
misfortune, the American economy would be much less productive
and consumption choices much more constrained |