The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many of us. First and foremost, it’s a human tragedy, affecting the lives of nearly every person throughout the world. We are also deeply concerned about its impact on our economy. For businesses and organizations, their employees, and the US economy, the stakes are high.
Leading the Way Forward
Our colleagues, clients, and communities are our priority and we are committed to lead the way forward in this crisis. Marsh President and CEO, John Q. Doyle, wrote to Congress and the Administration to offer Marsh’s assistance in creating a public-private pandemic risk solution that can accelerate our economic recovery and provide much-needed protection against future pandemic risks.
Pandemic Risk Insurance Solution: Why it’s Essential
A pandemic coverage back-stop would benefit business and organization of all types and sizes across the United States by:
- Facilitating access to capital from both lenders and equity markets that will require assurance against future pandemic risks.
- Establishing a viable insurance market – with sufficient and affordable capacity – for pandemic risk.
- Creating greater protection and predictability for businesses and their employees for any recurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and for any future pandemics.
- Enhancing the resilience of the US economy following a future pandemic.
A pandemic risk insurance program would be a risk-sharing model between policyholders, insurers and the federal government. As with traditional policies, policyholders would absorb initial pandemic-related business interruption losses up to specified deductibles. Insurers would then cover those losses between that threshold and a higher limit. The federal government would then backstop the overall program by bearing the remainder (or a specified percentage of the remainder) of the damages above that limit.
We will continue to update you on the latest insurance information on our Pandemic Risk Hub.