The McKinsey Quarterly

featured Financial Services, Insurance article, missed opportunity for US health insurers

November 2008 

The missed opportunity for US health insurers

At present, most health care payers convert less than 10 percent of the customers who move to a new product class. There’s substantial room for improvement.

Recent Thinking

The Archive

2007

  • March 2007 

    The retail revolution in health insurance

    More and more, payers are dealing with individual consumers, not companies. They will have to change their products, their mind-sets, and their competencies.

2006

2005

2004

2003

  • May 2003 

    Assessing insurance deals

    Stock markets didn’t look kindly on M&A deals in the insurance industry during the 1990s, but a few fared better than most.

  • May 2003 

    Hidden flaws in strategy

    Can insights from behavioral economics explain why good executives back bad strategies?

    Includes: Audio
  • February 2003 

    Lower repair costs for European auto insurers

    Web-based systems and recent regulatory changes are helping insurers establish better—and cheaper—repair networks.

2001

  • August 2001 

    Mutually assured survival

    Mutual insurers must use their capital more productively, but there are many ways to do so.

  • May 2001 

    Insuring profits

    Although it has become harder and harder to make money selling auto and home owners' insurance, established retail insurers still have one effective weapon: better pricing.

2000

  • August 2000 

    Net premium

    The apparent belief of personal-lines property-casualty insurance companies that they can hold back the tide of electronic commerce puts them at risk of being deluged by it.

  • May 2000 

    M&A in Asian insurance

    Many Asian insurers now realize that they need Western investment and know-how, and pressure is building because Asian regulators, sobered by huge overall portfolio losses, are relaxing restrictions on foreign ownership.

1999

  • November 1999 

    Capital punishment

    Most insurance companies are massively overcapitalized. They should find better ways to use their shareholders’ money.

  • August 1999 

    Brokers vs. insurers

    Brokers are consolidating globally. Insurers are paying the price. New entrants threaten both sides of the industry.

  • August 1999 

    Reviving German life insurance

    Restructuring and consolidation are just beginning: Insurers will have to redefine their way of doing business.

1998

  • August 1998 

    Can European insurers create value?

    The market is sending a clear message: Insurers must radically improve their performance and increase their size, simultaneously. Core skills—buying and selling as well as leveraging intangible assets—will be key.

  • February 1998 

    Must it always be risky business

    Companies insure against property and casualty loss; why not against rogue trading, new product failure, and other business risks? Business risk insurance should be thought of as a new and efficient source of capital. But banks and insurers will need to integrate and tailor products.

1997

  • August 1997 

    A vision for worksite marketing

    A new channel to meet all the financial needs of employees. Convenience and cost will be important, but education could be the key that unlocks latent demand.

  • August 1997 

    Commercial lines insurance in Europe

    The basis of competition is shifting from capital to knowledge. Larger insurers are well placed to succeed. Smaller players face a shrinking pie.

1996

  • November 1996 

    New Strategies for European insurance

    Corporate premiums for predictable risks will likely disappear. Four very different value propositions are emerging. Supplementing welfare, asset gatherers, or service providers?

1993

  • May 1993 

    Facing up to the losses

    An analysis of the European insurance industry on the verge of a structural shake-up.

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