Developed in collaboration with Metabiota and Munich Re, Marsh delivers an integrated pandemic risk quantification and insurance solution that provides financial protection to businesses and their global operations.

Over the last few decades, diseases such as Zika, MERS, SARS, and the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) have had dramatic financial implications for several industries. Although recent pandemics and epidemics have been deadly, the mortality rates from these outbreaks are generally far lower than health crises of the past, owing in large part to advances in medicine and infrastructure.

Yet the potential economic impacts of today’s health crises can be far greater in scope than earlier ones. The increasing reliance of businesses on technology, frequent and generally unrestricted travel, and far-reaching supply chains mean that an outbreak in a single country can have global repercussions. The World Bank estimates that the cost of a severe flu pandemic today could total as much as 5% of global GDP.

Until now, companies have had limited options for protecting their bottom lines from the financial effects of pandemic and epidemic risks. That’s because unlike natural catastrophes and other crises, pandemics and epidemics typically do not cause immediate physical damage — and they’re difficult to model because businesses have had no way to measure their potential economic loss.

To meet the growing concerns and risks surrounding outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, Marsh has partnered with Munich Re and Metabiota to create PathogenRX, an integrated pandemic risk quantification and insurance solution that provides financial protection to US-based businesses and their global operations.

Using Metabiota’s Pathogen Sentiment Index, a tool that estimates public fear and behavioral change driven by a pandemic or epidemic, businesses can model their potential financial loss from an outbreak and protect against the chance of loss via an insurance policy underwritten by Munich Re. The policy provides indemnity protection that can make an insured whole in the event of a demonstrable loss. The policy can be tailored to provide coverage for specific expenses, geographies, types of disease, or portions of a calendar year.

Key benefits include:

• The ability to model and estimate pandemic and epidemic risks through Metabiota’s comprehensive infectious disease database.
• Insurance protection against financial loss stemming from the risk of a pandemic or epidemic to international travel/study-abroad programs, research programs, and related revenue.
• Customizable coverage and retentions.

The target industries for this product are Hospitality & Gaming, Travel & Tourism, Aviation, Public Entity, Education, Real Estate, Sports & Events and Retail/Wholesale Food & Beverage.