The Development Of International Insurance

Despite their economic and social importance, there are relatively few book-length studies of national insurance industries. This collection of nine essays by a group of international experts redresses this balance; providing an extensive geographical and thematic spread, linked via an extensive introduction.

Traces the history and development of the international insurance and re-insurance business.

This book explains the origins and early developments of Japanese medical insurance systems from the 1920s to the 1950s. It closely examines the changes in the systems and the symbiotic relationship between Japan’s status in international relations and the development of domestic medical insurance systems. While previous studies have regarded the origins and development of Japanese medical insurance systems as merely a domestic issue and pay little attention to the role or effects of international affairs, this book closely examines the changes in these systems by looking at the enactment of the Health Insurance Law in 1922, the establishment of the National Health Insurance in 1938, the epoch-making reforms of 1942, numerous plans in the early Allied occupation period, and Japan’s social security plan in 1950. In doing so, it shows that there was indeed a symbiotic relationship between Japan’s status in international relations and the changing nature of domestic medical insurance systems. It also reveals that Japan’s status in international relations set the framework within which interested groups, primarily the government, made rational choices. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and students who have an interest in the Japanese medical insurance systems.

'Global insurance and its rapidly evolving law and regulation demands international research. To this aim, the Handbook offers a truly international collection of essays. Highly renowned experts analyze the key topics currently under international discussion and development. While representing a diversity of national jurisdictions, the focus lies on the largest insurance jurisdictions (USA, UK and Germany) but newly important jurisdictions like Brazil and China are considered as well a most valuable and important contribution to international insurance law literature.' Manfred Wandt, Director of the Insurance Law Institute, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany 'This Research Handbook is published at an opportune time. A global review of insurance law and regulation is underway. Much reform happens locally with little reference to developments elsewhere and this Research Handbook brings the strands together. It is a comprehensive review by distinguished authors from different backgrounds including both leading academics and practitioners. They consider the definitions of insurance, its economic underpinnings, comparative law and regulations, actual and proposed reforms, the effects on underwriting and claims and how insurance is studied and taught. Good laws and regulation benefit the market and its customers. Bad laws and regulation do the opposite. This book is required reading for all involved in the reform process.' David Hertzell, Law Commissioner 'Globalisation has had no greater impact in the commercial world than on insurance, the law which governs it and the risks it seeks to address. Those who inspired this publication and the contributing authors, are to be thanked for providing such a necessary and useful reference source. It covers so much of what insurance professionals need to be aware of in the insurance/law world of the twenty first century.' Michael Gill, President of the International Insurance Law Association Given its economic importance, insurance is a field that has been underserved as an area of academic study. This detailed book provides much needed coverage of insurance law and regulation in its international context. Produced in association with Lloyd's, it draws on the expertise both of academics and practising lawyers. Containing 30 comprehensive chapters, it provides in-depth studies on key areas, such as the role of international organisations, the judicial interpretation of insurance contract clauses and transnational regulatory recognition. It also provides thorough introductions to important jurisdictions, including the EU, US and Japan as well as focusing on newly emerging economies such as China and Brazil. Specialist topics covered include regulation by and of Lloyd's, the tort of bad faith in the US, microinsurance and takaful insurance. This well-documented resource will appeal to academics and students in insurance law and regulation, policymakers and private practice lawyers. The book also aims to stretch the imagination of anyone with an interest in insurance law and regulation, providing detailed analysis and avenues for further investigation.

Many Americans believe that people who lack health insurance somehow get the care they really need. Care Without Coverage examines the real consequences for adults who lack health insurance. The study presents findings in the areas of prevention and screening, cancer, chronic illness, hospital-based care, and general health status. The committee looked at the consequences of being uninsured for people suffering from cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, heart and kidney disease, mental illness, traumatic injuries, and heart attacks. It focused on the roughly 30 million-one in seven-working-age Americans without health insurance. This group does not include the population over 65 that is covered by Medicare or the nearly 10 million children who are uninsured in this country. The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash.

How did the United States come to have its distinctive workplace-based health insurance system? Why did Progressive initiatives to establish a government system fail? This book explores the history of health insurance in the United States from its roots in the nineteenth-century sickness funds offered by industrial employers, fraternal organizations, and labor unions to the rise of such group plans as Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the mid-twentieth century. Historians generally view the failure to establish universal health insurance during the first half of the twentieth century as an indicator of the political clout of insurers, employers, unions, and physicians who thwarted Progressive efforts. But the explanation is actually simpler, John Murray contends in this book. Careful analysis of the workings of industrial sickness funds suggests that workers rejected plans for compulsory state insurance because they were largely content with existing private plans. Murray revises our understanding of the evolution of health care insurance in the United States and discusses the implications of that history for the ongoing debates of today.

Abstract: Insurance market activity, both as a financial intermediary and a provider of risk transfer and indemnification, may contribute to economic growth by allowing different risks to be managed more efficiently and by mobilizing domestic savings. During the past decade, there has been faster growth in insurance market activity, particularly in emerging markets given the process of liberalization and financial integration, which raises questions about its impact on economic growth. The author tests whether there is a causal relationship between insurance market activity (life and nonlife insurance) and economic growth. Using the generalized method of moments for dynamic models of panel data for 56 countries and for the 1976-2004 period, he finds robust evidence of a causal relationship between insurance market activity and economic growth. Both life and nonlife insurance have a positive and significant causal effect on economic growth. High-income countries drive the results in the case of life insurance. On the other hand, both high-income and developing countries drive the results in the case of nonlife insurance.

Over the past twenty years, many low- and middle-income countries have experimented with health insurance options. While their plans have varied widely in scale and ambition, their goals are the same: to make health services more affordable through the use of public subsidies while also moving care providers partially or fully into competitive markets. Colombia embarked in 1993 on a fifteen-year effort to cover its entire population with insurance, in combination with greater freedom to choose among providers. A decade later Mexico followed suit with a program tailored to its federal system. Several African nations have introduced new programs in the past decade, and many are testing options for reform. For the past twenty years, Eastern Europe has been shifting from government-run care to insurance-based competitive systems, and both China and India have experimental programs to expand coverage. These nations are betting that insurance-based health care financing can increase the accessibility of services, increase providers' productivity, and change the population's health care use patterns, mirroring the development of health systems in most OECD countries. Until now, however, we have known little about the actual effects of these dramatic policy changes. Understanding the impact of health insurance–based care is key to the public policy debate of whether to extend insurance to low-income populations—and if so, how to do it—or to serve them through other means. Using recent household data, this book presents evidence of the impact of insurance programs in China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, and Peru. The contributors also discuss potential design improvements that could increase impact. They provide innovative insights on improving the evaluation of health insurance reforms and on building a robust knowledge base to guide policy as other countries tackle the health insurance challenge.