Interesting facts about Insurance

Insurance policies are not always boring. Some interesting things are also there!

Insurance is an arrangement by which a company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a specified premium.

This is a very important thing for many in the world. There won’t be anyone in the world without knowing this word. Sometimes, some may even get bored with the term. But insurance policies are not always boring.

Here are some exciting and interesting facts about health insurance, life insurance and many more that you may have missed to notice!

 

Fact number #1

The word insurance originally had a meaning of ‘engagement to marry’.

Insurance was derived from the French world called ‘ensurer’, which had the meaning of ‘engagement to marry’. With time, it become as assurance and later named as insurance with the meaning mentioned above.

Fact number #2

In 1347, the very first insurance contract was signed.

Although the concept of insurance policy prevailed well before in ancient civilizations, the very first contract was signed in Genoa, Italy, in 1347.

In 14^th century, insurance policies or insurance contracts not associated with loans or other forms of contracts, were invented in Genoa. These insurance contracts and policies were backed by pledges of landed estates.

Fact number #3

Starbucks keen on the health insurance of the employee over the expenses for coffee.

Once the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz executed company-wide turnaround for cutting costs by closing stores worldwide and laying off the employees. Most of the stores had been open for less than a couple of years.

Even though he enforced cost-cutting, he refused to reduce the heath related expenses for his employees. He reserved over 300 million dollars for their health insurance, which was far more than they spend on coffee.

Schultz refused to reduce the health insurance, even though there was chance to cover loss of the company by cutting the money allocated for health insurance of the part-time employees.

Fact number #4

An insurance policy was there for the death caused by excessive laughter while watching a movie at theaters.

During the 19^th century, people were so scared that they will die due to excessive laughing while watching movies at the theater. So, they made insurance policies for themselves through Lloyd’s of London.

Fact number #5

The trend of insuring body parts began in 1920.

Ben Turphin, popular silent movie star, began the trend of insuring parts of the body in 1920 by putting a policy for his signature crossed eyes for $25,000 in Lloyd’s of London.

 

Fact number #6

An American actress America Ferrera had insured her smile for 10,000,000 dollars.

America Ferrera, known her for gorgeous smile, had insured for her smile that includes her teeth and gums also, with the help of her sponsor, Aquafresh, for 10 million dollars.

The insurance policy covers the costs for her dental treatment and any expenses due to any accidental injury within the period of the policy.

Fact number #7

American musician Gene Simmons insured his tongue for $1,000,000.

American musician, Gene Simmons, popular bassist of 70’s rock band called Kiss, once insured his tongue for one million dollars.

The band’s logo was designed with black and white face paint including Simmon’s signature move of sticking out his tongue.

Fact number #8

None of the insurance companies are ready to cover Jackie Chan’s productions.

Jackie Chan, famous Hong Kong actor, known for his stunt acts, pays the medical bills of his stuntmen from his own money and also trains them at his own expense.

From the official website of Jackie Chan, we can see that once, in an interview, Chan said that there are so many rules and safety measures to be followed for an insurance policy.

Further, he said that even though they care about us, following their guidelines took so much of time unnecessarily as getting ready with safety measures for simple stunts, where these safety things are not necessary.

Jackie Chan is always confident about his stunt team. He believes that they have plenty of experience and they are cable to do the stunts safely. He used to say proudly that their set don’t have a safety captain.