Jean Lemaire - Faculty Research in Knowledge@Wharton

Efforts Are Growing to Trim the Fat from Employees -- and Employers' Health Care Costs

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:04:42 EST

With all the statistics showing how many adults in the United States are obese (30%), how many deaths are caused each year by obesity (365,000) and how bad the problem is (getting worse, not better), it's no surprise that obesity is definitely on employers' radar screens this year. But, Wharton experts and others point out, obesity is not just bad for the individual; it also weighs heavily on companies' rising health care costs.

Insurance, Life Expectancy and the Cost of Firearm Deaths in the U.S.

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 15:46:04 EST

While the U.S. operates the most expensive health care system in the world, its citizens are neither healthier nor live longer than citizens in other countries. In addition, while the U.S. is considered among the safest countries in the world, deaths from gunshot wounds are staggeringly high. In 2000, the U.S. recorded close to 11,000 firearm homicides. The European Union reported fewer than 1,300 firearm homicides for the same year. In Japan, the number was 22. Jean Lemaire, professor of insurance and actuarial science at Wharton, argues that these facts should be looked at in tandem. In a recent paper, Lemaire works through the medical and financial impact of firearms on American society.

In the Tsunami's Wake: How Best to Respond

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 04:47:29 EST

Wharton professor Jean LeMaire came to Thailand last month to lead a seminar on insurance in Bangkok. Before the seminar even began, he would witness, from the uncomfortably close vantage point of a beach in Phuket, the kind of disaster that haunts insurers and humanitarian relief agencies for months to come -- the devastating Asian tsunami that is estimated to have killed more than 170,000 in 11 countries. The scale of the tragedy and the outpouring of concern from around the world have raised the tsunami to a new level of natural disaster, and calls for a new level of response.

How Will Insurers Deal With Their Most Expensive Catastrophe?

Wed, 26 Sep 2001 00:00:00 EST

Every past catastrophe is dwarfed by the impact that the terrorist attacks will have on the insurance industry. Among the issues that shell-shocked insurers and re-insurers are grappling with are workers� compensation losses, business interruption losses and property losses. Estimates suggest the industry�s exposure could be anywhere between $15 billion and $40 billion. Wharton professors and industry experts offer some suggestions, including a stronger role for the government as the �insurer of last resort.�

Genetic Testing�s Uneasy Relationship with Life Insurance

Wed, 01 Mar 2000 13:58:03 EST

On February 8, 2000, U.S. President Clinton signed an executive order prohibiting federal agencies from collecting genetic information from their employees or using such information to make hiring, promotion, or placement decisions. Clinton�s action clearly reflects efforts among consumer groups to protect an individual�s right to privacy in the area of genetic testing. Yet the insurance industry, among other groups, has a vested interest in the results of genetic testing when it comes to term life insurance. Using the most recent data in this field, a group of Wharton researchers build an actuarial model that evaluates the increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer in the presence of family history and/or gene mutation, and then calculates the possible effects on insurers who sell term life insurance.