Skip to Main Content

Insurance Claims Representatives

History

Insurance is an action or process that insures a party against loss or damage by a contingent event, such as fire, accident, illness, or death. The field originated in the late 1600s at Lloyd's Coffeehouse in London as a means of sharing the risks of commercial voyages. Underwriters received a fee for the portion of the financial responsibility they shouldered.

Although organized insurance first developed with the maritime industry, the need for protection also grew in other areas. Life insurance, first appearing in Philadelphia in 1759, originally was designed to minimize the loss from death by pooling the risk with others. Accident insurance appeared in the United States in 1863, and automobile insurance appeared in 1898. Today, the general categories of insurance include life, health, property, liability, suretyship, package, and social insurance.

As the insurance business became more complex, the need for specialized personnel, like claims representatives, developed.