1. A method for processing insurance claims using a set of adjudication rules, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a claim for processing, the received claim having claim content including a claim date; accessing the set of adjudication rules appropriate to the received claim, the set of adjudication rules structured in a plurality of containers including a primary rule container and a plurality of secondary rule containers, each of the plurality of secondary rule containers being coupled to the primary rule container by a respective container reference, each of the plurality of secondary rule containers containing one or more adjudication rules adapted for processing the claim content of the received claim, each of the one or more adjudication rules being coupled to their respective secondary container by a respective rule reference, the set of adjudication rules defining a rule hierarchy; processing the content of the received claim with the one or more adjudication rules facilitated by an execution order defined by the ordering of the container references in the primary rule container; wherein the result of the processed claim is used to determine subsequent settlement of the received claim.