Years before Warren Buffett suggested in early May that Berkshire-Hathaway might consider offering insurance coverage for flu pandemics, a specialty insurer developed the first property-casualty product related to disease outbreaks in 2006.
Barrett Hubbard, managing director of Markel Risk Solutions in Glen Allen, Va.–who is also the developer of Markel's Outbreak Extra Expense Coverage–explained the policy, which pays out a preset dollar amount for expenses incurred when a business or public entity is shut down by a public health official because of an outbreak of disease like Swine flu.
Mr. Hubbard coincidentally spoke to NU on the same day that Swine flu cases worldwide reached the 1,000 mark, and as press services widely reported Mr. Buffett's remarks stating that his insurance operations could offer a form of pandemic coverage.
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