Lifted ban doesn't give green light to insurers

It may be true that everything is insurable if you are prepared to pay the right price, but the limit to that assertion is becoming more apparent.

In some cases, the potential devastation that would be caused by certain actions, such as nuclear terrorist attacks, is too great to be borne by the insurance industry alone. In other cases, it is a case of once bitten, twice shy.

The latter would seem to be the very understandable reason that insurers are not expected to rush back into the market for insuring the risks of offering silicone breast implants.

As we report on page 1, even though the Food and Drug Administration has determined recently that silicone implants are safe, insurers are still unlikely to offer coverage for manufacturers of the implants under their liability policies.

That's hardly surprising, given that despite the failure of researchers to prove a link between certain illnesses and silicone implants, manufacturers and their insurers have paid out billions to settle lawsuits alleging the connections.

While we continue to believe in the insurance industry's ability to develop innovative solutions to what at first glance might seem intractable problems, the threat of having to pay for undocumented and unproved damages should be enough to deter even the most optimistic underwriters.