This week, the Senate received a warning: global warming is stirring up health problems and will continue to worsen.

Witnesses at the hearing cited the 35,000 deaths in the 2003 European heat wave, the spread of the West Nile virus to 47 states (unseen in the U.S. eight years ago), and most recently the droughts, heat waves, and massive wildfires.

Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that it's not a question of whether there will be ill health effects from global warming, but of who, when, where and how.

The director also presented a CDC chart showing that rising temperatures are likely to affect public health not only in the form of heat waves, but of severe weather, increased air pollution, water contamination and disease, and disruptions to food supply—yielding increases in cardiovascular disease, malaria and dengue, among other afflictions.

We've seen the property-casualty industry start to react to global warming; will the health and life industry follow suit?

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