From fires and floods to theft, workplace injuries and auto crashes, individuals and businesses face a variety of potentially catastrophic risks every day. Losses include property damage, injury and even death. By creating tools to manage uncertainty and loss, property and casualty insurers provide crucial personal and professional protection.

According to the American Insurance Association, the P&C insurance industry pays out more than $400 billion annually in policy benefits. To meet this demand, there are approximately 2,700 companies providing P&C insurance coverage in the United States. About 2.3 million people are employed by the industry, working for insurance companies, agencies and brokerages.

Property and casualty insurance traces its modern history back to marine insurance in the late Middle Ages. Merchants and bankers became concerned about the safety of shipments due to piracy, storms, and other perils. Bankers began providing guarantees against loss, while merchants paid the bankers a fee for this protection. (See, “Property-Casualty Insurance Basics.”)