One Person’s View: 7 Wonders of P/C Insurance History

What events have shaped the modern insurance landscape? Which ideas, innovations and accidents stand out as landmarks in the development and growth of this most important industry known as insurance? Following is one person’s opinion of the seven wonders of insurance history to this point.

1. Lloyd’s of London.Although the first informal gatherings of shippers and investors in 1688 were not intended to produce an insurance mechanism; Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse on London’s Tower Street witnessed the first days of what has become the world’s best known insurance underwriting society. The first official committee of subscribers did not meet until 1771. The first 100 years of Lloyd’s were somewhat “unofficial,” operating on trust among the insureds and the underwriters. Lloyd’s is a pilgrimage site for all insurance geeks.

2. The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Founded by Benjamin Franklin and several prominent business associates in 1752, The Contributorship, as it is now commonly called, was a proactive insurance carrier refusing to provide coverage to houses and other structures that were not constructed according to strict building standards. During the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1777, it hired a chimney sweep to maintain the chimneys of insured houses that were still occupied. This was one of the first insurance carriers to enact loss control standards.

3. Workers’ Compensation. Prior to workers’ compensation laws, workers injured on the job had to seek recovery through the court system; they had to prove their employer was negligent. Many did not have the funds to wage this fight. Maryland (1902), Massachusetts (1908), Montana (1909) and New York (1910) each introduced workers’ compensation statutes. All four laws were struck down under constitutional challenge as violating “due process.” Wisconsin in May 1911 became the first state to effectuate an ongoing workers’ compensation program that survived legal challenges. Nine more states adopted laws before the close of 1911. By the end of 1920, 42 states plus Alaska and Hawaii (even though statehood didn’t come for either until 1959) enacted statutes. Mississippi was the last state, waiting until 1948.

4. The New York Standard Fire Policy. This 165-line document became the basis for nearly all modern property insurance contracts and in many (approximately 26) states it is still attached or referenced in all property policies or statute. Although first adopted in 1918, any current mention of this policy is a reference to the 1943 edition.

5. National Flood Insurance Program.Federal flood insurance was proposed as early as the mid-to-late 1930s, when private insurers ceased offering flood coverage; but it wasn’t until 1968 that federal flood insurance became a reality in the form of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Although signed into law in 1968, necessary funding was not provided to carry out the mandates of the program until the early 1970’s. Creation of the flood policy was an important milestone in insurance history.

6. Creation of Insurance Services Office (ISO) and American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS).Insurance Services Office (ISO) was created in 1971 by a merger between the Mutual Insurance Rating Bureau and the Insurance Rating Bureau (known as the National Bureau of Casualty Underwriters until 1968). ISO provides statistical and actuarial services, rating information, claims data, standardized policy language and other relevant industry data. It has by far the largest insurance-related database.

The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) was organized in 1975 as a multiline property/ casualty advisory organization and as a licensed statistical agent. AAIS is the successor organization of the former Transportation Insurance Rating Bureau, a Chicago-based inland marine rating bureau. AAIS promulgates, files and maintains on behalf of its more than 600 member companies forms, rules and rating information for more than 20 lines of personal and commercial insurance.

These two organizations are largely responsible for the standardization in the industry today. Although their forms and rates (loss costs) may be considered advisory, they are considered the standards on which proprietary forms and rates are based.

7. The Businessowners’ Policy (BOP). First introduced in 1976, this was the first time commercial risks were offered property and liability coverage in the same form without the need to piecemeal the parts together in a package.

Not much innovation has occurred within the standard insurance market since the mid-1970s. Most of the changes since the introduction of the BOP have simply been updates to the coverages and forms currently available. There has been some innovation in captives, delivery systems and other minor areas, but nothing that has altered the way most agents do business or the business itself.