The ART Gallery
What Changes Will
This Decade Bring?
By Dick Goff
ell, here I am back from my
W
two-year hiatus as curator of
the ART Gallery while I was
immersed in SIIA leadership duties.
During that time my friend and col-
league Allen Taft ably filled this space,
and I hope you’re not too disappoint-
ed to miss his smiling moustache.
But to business: a lot has happened in Here’s the biggest change: we passed
the ART world in a couple of years.
Let’s see, when I left off we were hop-
into a new decade. Welcome to the
ing for federal legislation to update
“teens” and so long to the “oh-oh’s.”
the Liability Risk Retention Act
(LRRA) to allow risk retention groups always been an international pursuit. the current 600 million to 800
to insure members’ commercial prop- The first captives were established in million in the next 15 years and
erty and provide other advantages. Bermuda and now we do business in per capita income will increase by
many countries and U.S. states. three times. The insurance indus-
Let me take this phone call from try was liberalized in 2000 and
SIIA’s DC office; another recent tech- While I was thinking about this I total premium has increased from
nological advancement is that my called my friend Brij Sharma, a SIIA one billion dollars in 2001 to four
PDA works while we’re conversing member who manages the insurance and a half billion in 2008. Many
here in print. That was Cliff Roberti services firm Tela-USA with opera- familiar company names in life
letting me know he expects that the tions in the U.S. and India from his and general insurance now oper-
LRRA bill to be deliberated by the headquarters in Baltimore. Here’s ate in India.
House any day now. So not so much what we talked about:
has changed after all. Q. Brij, are you reading this off a
Q. Brij, why Baltimore? cue card?
Here’s the biggest change: we passed A. It’s a neat town. I walk from my A. It’s a subject I often talk about.
into a new decade. Welcome to the home on one side of the harbor to More to our interests, health
“teens” and so long to the “oh-oh’s.” my office on the other side. insurance is the fastest growing
Of course, nobody succeeded in Where else can you do that except sector, now with 21 percent of the
establishing a nickname for the first maybe Hong Kong? total premium of general insur-
decade of this century, least of all the ance with about a one-fifth share
“oh-oh’s.” But I think it’s apt: all Q. I’ve never heard Baltimore in the growing group market. But
through the decade we were ducking compared to Hong Kong but at present only three to four per-
and saying “oh-oh, watch out!” It’ll be that’s not why I called. Tell me cent of the population is covered
interesting to see how journalists and about self-insurance opportuni- by some form of health insurance,
historians identify the recently depart- ties in India. so you can sense the growth oppor-
ed decade in retrospect. A. Are you sure you have time? It’s a tunity over the next few years.
big subject. It’s safe to say that
While I was away from the Gallery, the Indian insurance market is Q. India has national health care,
SIIA had its first International potentially far larger than the U.S. right?
Conference in Barcelona, and this market in numbers of employed A. Public health and disease eradica-
month comes the second in individuals. The working popula- tion are major concerns of the gov-
Singapore. To me, self-insurance has tion is expected to increase from ernment, and there are many gov-
(see page 14)
The Self-Insurer
©
/ January 2010 • 13
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