Global insurance broker and risk advisor Marsh has published a new report making a case for a public-private pandemic risk solution.
“We believe a pandemic risk solution is needed now to accelerate our economic recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic and provide much-needed protection against future pandemic risks,” said John Doyle president and CEO of Marsh. “Our goal is to bring all stakeholders together and create the right economic incentives so insurance can serve its traditional function of mitigating risk.”
In the report, Pandemic Risk Protection: Accelerate Recovery and Build Resilience Now Through Public-Private Partnership, Marsh said that there are a range of existing public-private risk-pooling models to draw from in order to create a solution. However, Marsh said, the US government is the only entity with the financial resources to help close the existing coverage gap.
Marsh also said that policyholders, brokers and insurers can do their part to help bed the risk curve “so that pandemic events can be better anticipated and their impacts better contained.”
“Insurers can play a critical role in developing and encouraging the adoption of pandemic loss reduction measures, while businesses will need to develop a clear view of their exposure to epidemic risk and create mitigation plans that include risk assessments, response plans, and insurance coverage,” Marsh said.
Marsh said that, over time, the right public-private partnership program could result in new technologies, ways of working, insurance products and processes that could help reduce the losses associated with pandemics.
