Insurance for a Better World
Insurance for a Better World
State Farm is collaborating with the international insurance community through the Geneva Association, with the goal of positively impacting society and helping people. State Farm hosted the event in late 2019.
Bloomington, Illinois.,
19
February
2020
|
16:22 PM
America/Chicago

Insurance for a Better World

The opioid crisis, artificial intelligence and the ride-sharing economy – three topics rarely part of the same sentence. Now what if I told you these are some of the topics insurers are talking about these days?

OK, we have to immediately dive into that first one. Opioids? Yes. Consider this:

  • The risks associated with negligence, fraud, deceptive marketing and over-prescription are significant.
  • The opioid crisis impacts people all around the world; however, most claims come from towns, districts or municipalities, rather than individuals.
  • The Society of Actuaries estimates the total economic burden of the opioid crisis in the U.S. from 2015 to 2018 was $631 billion.

This was one of several topics State Farm® and other insurers discussed at a conference of the Geneva Association – the leading international think tank of the insurance industry, which pursues “Insurance for a Better World.”

State Farm, a member the past eight years, hosted the event in late 2019, gaining insight into how international policymakers think about various regulatory matters.

"There is both inherent competition and a wide range of differing points of view within the insurance industry from a global perspective,” said Kevin Frederick, Vice President – Counsel in the Law Department. “But there are also real societal and global issues that transcend all of us, and emerging forms of risk that impact all of us.”

“Perhaps the most important takeaway for me,” he said, “has been not only learning more about differing points of view within the international industry, but also how these differing points of view are interconnected with our shared values.”

Insurance for a Better World
Kevin Frederick (far left), Vice President – Counsel in the Law Department at State Farm, said it has been interesting to learn differing points of view on societal topics within the international insurance industry.
Insurance for a Better World
Keesha-Lu Mitra, right, Associate General Counsel at State Farm, participated in the event.

Other interesting topics:

Artificial intelligence (AI)

  • AI is a rapidly evolving area that crosses all forms of business in various ways.
  • As AI continues to evolve, new and emerging risks follow, with complex considerations from a legal, ethical and cultural perspective.
  • A new area of research and regulation centers on why machines make the decisions they do.

Ride sharing

  • As ride-sharing continues to surge in popularity, there are fragmented approaches toward regulating risk and liability across cities, states and countries.
  • The ride-sharing experience from an insurance, risk and liability perspective is complex. For example, consider when and how coverage applies before, during and after a driver and passenger engage in a ride-sharing experience.
  • Insurance, risk and liability are based on historical loss patterns and predictive outcomes. The ride-sharing economy lacks historical data and is continually influenced by evolving forms of technology and AI.