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May 04, 2009 at 08:00 PM
As the swine flu spreads its reach from Mexico to other parts of the globe, the question to ask for many of you is: “What impact will the swine flu have on the insurance industry?”
Dr. Steven Weisbart, who studies plagues, pandemics and terrorism for the Insurance Information Institute, says there is a precedent for spikes in life insurance purchases. After the 9/11 attack, applications for life insurance sales rose 6 percent the next quarter and 4 percent the following two quarters.
Weisbart says that even if the swine flu reached true pandemic proportions (which he doesn’t believe it will), such as the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic that killed two million people worldwide, the life insurance industry is well-positioned to handle an estimated $155 billion of payouts.
