Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-2l2gl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T14:50:56.029Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Shifting Rhetoric of Insurance Denial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Abstract

The focus on actuarial tables and rating systems by state regulators is insufficient to ensure that protected groups are not discriminated against by the insurance industry. The most powerful tool used to exclude unwanted groups from the insurance pool lies in the subjective underwriting guidelines companies utilize, yet the rhetoric surrounding the insurance industry shifts attention away from this area.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Law and Society Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

The author is indebted to the members of the Insurance & Society Reading Group of New England for their comments and support. Peter Siegelman and the two anonymous reviewers also provided excellent suggestions. The influence of three of my former professors—Ross Cheit, Roger Cobb, and James Morone—shines throughout this article, although, of course, any errors are my own. Finally, special thanks to Tom Baker for allowing me to spend the 1999-2000 academic year at the Insurance Law Center, University of Connecticut School of Law.

References

References

Abraham, Kenneth S. (1995) Insurance Law and Regulation. 2d Ed. Westbury, NY: Foundation Press.Google Scholar
Aetna Insurance Co. (Aetna) (1867) Aetna Guide to Fire Insurance for the Representatives of the Aetna Insurance Co. Hartford, CT: Aetna.Google Scholar
Austin, Regina (1983) “The Insurance Classification Controversy,” 131 Univ. of Pennsylvania Law Rev. 517–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, Tom (1994) “Constructing the Insurance Relationship: Sales Stories, Claims Stories, and Insurance Contract Damages,” 72 Texas Law Rev. 13951433.Google Scholar
Baker, Tom (1996) “On the Genealogy of Moral Hazard,” 75 Texas Law Rev. 237–92.Google Scholar
Baker, Tom, & McElrath, Karen (1997) “Insurance Claims Discrimination,” in Squires, G. D., ed. (1997) Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Bissell, Richard M. (1904) “Rates and Hazards,” in Zartman, L. W. & Price, William H., eds. (1921) Yale Readings in Insurance: Property Insurance, Marine and Fire. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Bureau of the Census (Census) (1949a) Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789–1945. Series B, 13–23. Washington, DC: GPO.Google Scholar
Bureau of the Census (Census) (1949b) Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789–1945. Series B 182–94. Washington, DC: GPO.Google Scholar
Calabresi, Guido (1970) The Costs of Accidents. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Calkins, Gary N. (1896) “Review of Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro,” 11 Political Science Quart. 754–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Census (see Bureau of the Census)..Google Scholar
Chan, Thomas S. F. (1999) “Service Quality and Unfair Racial Discrimination in Homeowners Insurance,” 66 J. of Risk and Insurance 8397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Miles Menander (1896) “Review of Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro by Frederick L. Hoffman,” 5 Publications of the American Statistical Association 142–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Miles Menander (1906) The Business of Life Insurance. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co.Google Scholar
Dawson, Miles Menander (1911) Elements of Life Insurance. 3d Ed. New York: Spectator Co.Google Scholar
Denenberg, Herbert S., Eilers, Robert D., Hoffman, G. Wright, Kline, Chester, & Melone, Joseph J. (1964) Risk and Insurance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Dixon, Thomas (1902) The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden—1896-1900. New York: Doubleday, Page.Google Scholar
Dixon, Thomas (1905) The Clansman; An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.Google Scholar
Douglas, Mary, & Wildavsky, Aaron (1982) Risk and Culture. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, Murray (1972) The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Glendenning, G. William, & Holtrom, Robert B.. (1977) Personal Lines Underwriting. Malvern, PA: Insurance Institute of America.Google Scholar
Hays, Samuel (1957) The Response to Industrialism, 1884–1914. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Heimer, Carol (1982) “The Racial and Organizational Origins of Insurance Redlining,” 10 J. of Intergroup Relations 4260.Google Scholar
Heimer, Carol (1985) Reactive Risk and Rational Action. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Frederick L. (1896) “Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro,” 11 Publications of the American Economics Association 1329.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Frederick L. (1900) History of the Prudential Insurance Company of America. Newark, NJ: Prudential Press.Google Scholar
Huebner, S. S., & Black, Kenneth Jr. (1969) Life Insurance. 7th Ed. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Huebner, S. S., Jr, Kenneth Black., & Cline, Robert S. (1976) Property and Liability Insurance. 2d Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Monitor, Insurance (1907) “Responsibility for Jewish Insurance Losses,” 55 Insurance Monitor.Google Scholar
Klein, Robert W. (1997) “Availability and Affordability Problems in Urban Homeowners Insurance Markets,” in Squires, G. D., ed. (1997) Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Levy, Michael H. (1968) A Handbook of Personal Insurance Terminology. Lynbrook, NY: Farnsworth.Google Scholar
Lewis, Hylan (1955) Blackways of Kent. Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Long, John D. (1971) Ethics, Morality, and Insurance. Bloomington, IN: Graduate School of Business, Univ. of Indiana.Google Scholar
Lynch, William (1997) “NAACP v. American Family,” in Squires, G. D., ed. (1997) Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Magee, John H. (1951) Property Insurance. rev. ed. Chicago: Richard D. Irwin.Google Scholar
McClymer, John F. (1980) War and Welfare: Social Engineering in America, 1890–1925. London: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
McGill, Dan M. (1967) Life Insurance. rev. ed. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.Google Scholar
Miller, Kelly (1897) “A Review of Hoffman's Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro,” 1 Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy 136.Google Scholar
Porter, Theodore. (1995) Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Powdermaker, Hortense (1939) After Freedom: A Cultural Study in the Deep South. New York: Viking Press.Google Scholar
Powers, D.J. (1997) “The Discriminatory Effects of Homeowners Insurance Underwriting Guidelines,” in Squires, G. D., ed. (1997) Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Rogers, O. H., & Hunter, A. (1919) “The Numerical Method of Determining the Value of Risks for Insurance,” 20 Transactions of the Actuarial Society of America. Reprinted in Life Office Management Assoc. Transactions of the Actuarial Society of America. Reprinted in Life Office Management Assoc: A Compendium. New York: LOMA.Google Scholar
Scott, James (1998) Seeing Like a State. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Simon, Jonathan (1988) “The Ideological Effects of Actuarial Practices,” 22 Law & Society Rev. 771800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skocpol, Theda (1995) Social Policy in the United States. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Barry D., Trieschmann, James S. & Wiening, Eric (1987) Property and Liability Insurance Principles. Malvern, PA: Insurance Institute of America.Google Scholar
Smith, Shanna, & Cloud, Cathy (1997) “Documenting Discrimination by Homeowners Insurance Companies through Testing,” in Squires, G. D., ed. (1997) Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Squires, Gregory D., ed. (1997) Insurance Redlining: Disinvestment, Reinvestment, and the Evolving Role of Financial Institutions. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Standen, William T. (1893) “The Effect of ‘Occupation’ and ‘Habits’ on Life Insurance Risks.” Address Delivered at the World's Fair Auxiliary Congress, Reprinted in Standen (1897) The Ideal Protection. New York: United States Life Insurance Company.Google Scholar
Stone, Deborah (1993) “The Struggle for the Soul of Health Care,” 18 J. of Health Politics, Policy & Law 287317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treaster, Joseph B. (1998) “Insurer Must Pay $100.5 Million in Redlining Case,” New York Times, October 12, p. C-1.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Emmett (1992) Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance. 6th Ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Walters, Michael A. (1981) “Risk Classification Standards.” 68 Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society 123.Google Scholar
Weare, Walter (1973) Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Wissoker, Douglas, Zimmermann, Wendy & Galster, George, eds. (1998) Testing for Discrimination in Home Insurance. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Zelizer, Vivian A. Rotman (1979) Morals and Markets: The Development of Life Insurance in the United States. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Cases Cited

City of Los Angeles v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 132 Cal. App. 3d 77 (1982).Google Scholar
City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power v. Manhart, 435 U.S. 702 (1978).Google Scholar
Geduldig v. Aiello, 417 U.S. 484 (1974).Google Scholar
General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125 (1976).Google Scholar
Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. Insurance Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 505 Pa. 571, 482 A.2d 542 (1984).Google Scholar
United States v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company, C.A. No. 95-C-0327 (E.D. Wisc. 1995).Google Scholar