Insurance - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Sep 2019
Blog Post

The Business of Medicine: MD/MBA Students Having an Impact

pressures, such as physician workload, financial constraints, insurance regulations, and policy decisions. —Bobbie Collins Claire Wagner In pursuing her joint degree from Harvard’s medical and business schools, Claire Wagner, a rising... View Details

10 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker

Insurance built a wonderful business by selecting relatively low-risk customers from among generally high-risk motorcyclists. Step 4: Keep it simple. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by mismanaging your own product or service line. Many... View Details

Keywords: by Benson P. Shapiro

06 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Curbing an Unlikely Culprit of Rising Drug Prices: Pharmaceutical Donations

counterintuitive driver: the fact that in the US, pharmaceutical companies subsidize the purchase of their drugs. Medicare, the government insurer for elderly or disabled people in the US, encourages patients who can’t afford their drug... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Insurance; Insurance; Insurance

30 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

The Upside of Highlighting a Product's Downsides

customers more control and set their brands apart. The online apparel retailer Everlane provides detailed descriptions about the factories that produce its clothing. And Lemonade has upended traditional insurance by taking a set portion... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

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10 May 2020
Blog Post

Let’s Hear it For the Moms – The Incredible Balancing Act of Student Mothers

insurance industry Proudest Accomplishment: Being the mother of Elisa and the wife of Andrés Summer Internship: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) - Boston Office How do you do it? I have a great partner (Andy), I’m positive and enjoy the... View Details

01 Dec 2009
News

One Man Crime Wave

S. McNamara, were few; he apparently did not return for reunions nor did he contribute to the Bulletin’s Class Notes. At graduation, MacDonald requested that his diploma be mailed to him. From Cambridge, MacDonald moved his family back to upstate New York, where he... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; fiction writing; Arts, Entertainment; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Web

2024 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

traditional hospital, such as retail pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care centers, telemedicine, and wireless sensors. Public policy mirrored these changes by allowing access to telemedicine and pharmaceuticals by mail and by redefining care of the home... View Details

Research Summary

Experience and description-based decision making.

Prof. Barron and his co-authors study the effect of the economic environment on decision making. One example involves the effect of rare (low probability) events. People behave as if they overweight these events in some settings (e.g., when buying insurance and... View Details

October 1985
Supplement

Merrill Lynch: Underwriting Beverly Enterprises (B)

By: Dwight B. Crane

Keywords: Insurance; Insurance Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

20 Jul 2020
Op-Ed

It's Time for a Bipartisan Health Plan for Employers and Employees

The recent twin economic and pandemic calamities should cause us to rethink the status quo for health insurance compensation. Must General Motors be a benefits company that happens to make cars? Is it in the best interest of employees if... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard J. Boxer; Insurance; Insurance

24 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Can Obamacare Be Saved?

On August 15th, Aetna announced that it would reduce by 80 percent its participation in the Obama administration’s public exchanges for health insurance policies in 2017, citing significant financial losses. The move came just a few weeks... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau; Insurance; Insurance

April 2011
Supplement

Reinsurance Negotiation: Confidential Information for Auburn Re (CW)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Henoch Senbetta

Excel model to complement a three-party negotiation exercise. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Insurance; Insurance Industry

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Research Summary

Political Risk, Foreign Intervention and International Arbitration

The Empire Trap: America's Attempts to Protect Property Rights Overseas, 1898-2008, is a history of the U.S. government's attempts to protect the property rights of American investors when they venture outside the boundaries of the United... View Details

20 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Maybe Uber isn't God's Gift to Mankind

option that is often more convenient than a traditional taxicab service—not to mention less expensive. With these benefits, consumers and investors are also tempted to give these companies a pass for accusations that they cut corners on issues like background checks,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Insurance; Insurance

June 1975
Case

Marsh & McLennan (B)

Presents the results of a computer simulation of aircraft hull insurance. Discussion will focus on the interpretation of the results described. Designed to be handed out in class. Rewrite of an earlier supplement by P. Vatter. View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Insurance; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry

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January 2008 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Retail Sales of Health Insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Grady Clouse

The BCBS of Florida is contemplating whether to enter the consumer-driven health care market and if so, whether to target such groups—and individuals—and in which of its geographic markets, and how. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Insurance; Insurance Industry; Florida

Citation

Educators

March 2013 (Revised December 2016)
Supplement

Assured Guaranty (CW)

By: Robin Greenwood, Adi Sunderam and Jared Dourdeville

Keywords: Value Investing; Investments; Valuation; Insurance; Investment; Behavioral Finance; Insurance Industry

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November 25, 2015
Article

Developing Bundled Reimbursement for Cancer Care

By: Thomas Feeley, Tracy E. Spinks and Alexis Guzman

This case study describes the development of a bundled reimbursement pilot for head and neck cancer patients treated at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study describes the steps involved and the challenges to new alternative payment models in... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry

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October 2014 (Revised December 2014)
Case

Gentera: Beyond Microcredit

By: Rajiv Lal and Lisa Mazzanti

Gentera, whose largest subsidiary is Compartamos Banco, has been a fantastically successful endeavor since it started in the 1990s. But in 2014, Gentera faces challenges in expanding beyond group-lending and micro-credit into microfinance and beyond in order to fulfill... View Details