[In February's 2006 issue, we looked at the diverse natureof American society and the disparity between the new generation ofyoung people who are so technologically linked to each other thatindividualism has suffered, compared to the poor of the samegeneration who can barely function in the modern globalized world.How these various aspects of society will affect the insuranceindustry remains to be seen.]

We in the claim business are going to be encountering anincreasingly diverse cultural mix of insureds and claimants.Consider that in 2004, there were 1.6 million Islamic people, 1.5million Buddhists, and 1.1 million Hindus living in the UnitedStates. So-called minorities already represent 40 percent of thepopulation of the state I live in, and better than 50 percent in ahandful of other states. Having spent a considerable time in LosAngeles over the past few years, I find it fascinating to see howthat cultural and international society has learned to live with amultilingual mixture. I don't speak much Spanish, but even a fewwords of greeting make life a richer experience when a lot of thehotel and restaurants, gas stations, and other services arepopulated with speakers of this language. Americans need to learnother languages, not resent the fact that foreigners speakdifferent ones.

Dealing with Diverse Cultures