American Academy of Insurance Medicine

About This Association

In 1889, 34 physicians from 27 insurance companies formed the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America (ALIMDA) in New York. By 1990 there were 606 medical director members from 363 insurance companies. Originally it was an organization for medical directors in the United States and Canada, but members from other countries were welcomed as the 20th century progressed. ALIMDA addressed all professional medical interests relating to risk selection including mortality and morbidity studies, education, and professional and public relations. In 1991 the name was changed to the American Academy of Insurance Medicine (AAIM) to emphasize the educational mission and to remove 'life' from the title to reflect the organization's role in disability, health, long term care and other more recently developed types of insurance. In the 19th century physicians conducted medical examinations to ensure that life insurance was offered only to those who seemed to be healthy. The existence of a professional organization promoted development of consistency and fairness in the risk selection process. ALIMDA also encouraged application of medico-actuarial methodology to make underwriting more scientific. By the end of the century, early life insurance research had demonstrated the mortality implications of the results of routine urinalysis for protein and sugar. This proved to be a valuable contribution to both insurance and clinical medicine.

Publications

Conventions

annual meeting

Specialties:

1. Medicine

Information Summary