Preventing panic: public readiness and emergency preparedness are essential for insurers should a deadly influenza pandemic strike the United States such as the killer flu of 1918.

Best's Review, January, 2007 by Weisbart, Steven N.

Public health experts warn of an influenza pandemic that could be as bad as, or worse than, the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed the equivalent (in terms of the current U.S. population) of 1.9 million people. An Insurance Information Institute analysis estimated that if a new pandemic were as severe as the one in 1918, the U.S. life insurance industry would pay $155 billion in death claims. Although this is more than double what the life insurance industry pays in a typical year, the institute analysis concludes that the industry has enough reserve and surplus funds to pay all claims (as it did in 1918). The study is at www.iii.org/media/hottopics/additional/birdflu/.

A flu pandemic also will affect other insurance sectors. The 1918 pandemic caused a great...

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