Mr. Haley Fiske served as chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company inn the United States during a period of substantial innovation.
At a time when the United States had no public health program, he established a department to educate his company’s insureds on the value of preventive medicine, good living conditions and personal hygiene. He was responsible for the development of a nursing staff that put the services of trained, graduate nurses at the disposal of industrial insureds. He urged the passage of legislation promoting good health practices, the compilation of vital statistics, and compulsory birth registration.
His efforts to uphold and protect the interests of policyholders led to the mutualization of Metropolitan in 1915, the first such action taken under the laws of the country. He was a champion of industrial insurance ---against a series of legislative attacks aimed at its abolition.
Haley Fiske’s efforts lead to the use of insurer funds to provide low-rental apartment housing; lowering of costs and liberalization of contract terms in industrial insurance; the introduction of insured pension plans; and the establishment of periodic health examinations for insureds under personal life insurance contracts.
