Business Math in Action

Chapter 11: Insurance

Some Policies Are Out of This World

Insurance is all about protecting you from financial disaster in case of theft, fire, injury, or other calamity. But what if you make your living doing something unusual? Can you buy insurance to protect the parts of your body responsible for your success?

You can. Surgeons routinely insure their hands, and performers insure whichever part of their body is most valuable. "Lord of the Dance" Michael Flatley bought leg insurance. Bruce Springsteen insured his voice for $6 million, and British food critic Egon Ronay has insured his taste buds for $400,000.

When it comes to the oddest insurance policies, though, everyday people take the prize. They are the ones buying the Alien All Risks policy offered by London-based insurance company Goodfellows. The policy applies if an alien abducts you or inserts a microchip into your body. Half the policies are bought as jokes, but the other buyers are serious, says Goodfellows managing partner Simon Burgess.

Goodfellows also insures people against being attacked by the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot, and offers policies that will protect you from financial ruin in case you are transformed into an alien, werewolf, or vampire. You can even purchase a policy that will help support your family if you are killed by a ghost or poltergeist.

Some insurance policies are taken out by people who seem extremely optimistic about their future. For example, Japanese golfers purchase "hole-in-one" insurance. In Japan, whoever gets a hole in one is expected to send gifts to all his or her friends, a custom that can end up costing thousands of dollars. It takes a confident golfer to buy hole-in-one insurance, considering that the odds of an amateur making a hole in one are 1 in 12,000. Meanwhile, optimistic British employers buy insurance to protect the company in case two or more employees win the UK national lottery and decide to quit their jobs.

Insurance policies are available to protect people against their own personalities. The comedy team Abbott and Costello had a policy that would pay benefits if they had an argument and refused to work with each other. Finally, the People's Insurance Company of China offers married couples a policy that encourages them to work out their differences: If they divorce, they lose all their premiums, but if the marriage lasts 25 years, they get a big payout.

English Language Arts/Writing

Insurance

Make a list of five historical figures and the body parts that you think each would have found the most valuable to insure. For each figure, write a sentence explaining your choice.