Health Insurance Futures
Definition of "Health insurance futures"
One-year futures contract (standardized agreement between two parties to buy or sell a commodity or financial instrument on an organized futures exchange such as the CBOT within some future time period at a present stipulated price), traded at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), which would allow health insurance companies and self-insured employers to hedge their losses. The essential design of this contract is such that when actual claims exceed expected claims by amount "X," the futures contract would increase by the same amount "X." The financial instrument that forms the basis of this futures contract is an index that reflects the claims experience of ten health insurance companies. By buying futures contracts that will appreciate in the future as claims increase in the future, insurance companies and self-insured employers can profit from increasing futures prices through which they can offset their losses. Accordingly, by selling futures contracts that will decline in the future, these organizations can profit from decreasing futures prices that can be used to offset smaller cash flow. For example, if a health insurance company buys a futures contract for $40,000 and then sells it for $50,000, the company will recognize a profit of $10,000, which can be used to pay the higher than expected claims incurred. The cost effectiveness of hedging through the buying and selling of futures contracts depends on high correlations between expected claims payments and the futures contracts prices. If there is a low correlation between expected claims payments and the futures contracts prices, the less cost effective the hedge becomes. Thus, it is critical for the insurance company or the self-insured employer to establish the correlation between its block of business and the health insurance futures index.
Popular Insurance Terms
Deleveraging of the insurance company's balance sheet. ...
Insurance that offers blanket coverage up to a certain dollar amount on all property of the classification covered by the policy. Floater policies, which cover property wherever it happens ...
Model state statute that governs terms for surrender of individual deferred annuities and cash value life insurance. This model, adopted by most states in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ...
Duration of a policy. Property and casualty coverages are usually written for one year, although a personal automobile policy can be for six months. Life insurance can be written on a term ...
Attachment to an insurance policy to complete its coverage. For example, the Standard Fire Policy must have certain forms attached for it to provide the coverage desired. ...
Same as term cash surrender value: money the policyowner is entitled to receive from the insurance company upon surrendering a life insurance policy with cash value. The sum is the cash ...
Same as term Maximum Foreseeable Loss: worst case scenario under which an estimate is made of the maximum dollar amount that can be lost if a catastrophe occurs such as a hurricane or ...
Policy clause that excludes coverage for loss of property if the cause of the loss cannot be identified. Mysterious disappearance is an exclusion in a standard inland marine insurance ...
Coverage for paintings, pictures, etchings, tapestries, art glass windows, antique furniture, coin collections, and stamp collections owned by individuals and businesses. These works are ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.