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
Educational organization for insurance women whose objective is to further the interests of these women through education and adherence to professional ethics. ...
Hazard covered under catastrophe reinsurance. This form of excess of loss reinsurance protects the ceding company for loss above the retention limit caused by multiple catastrophic events. ...
Return of a prorated portion of premium after a policy is canceled by the insurer. Under most property and liability insurance policies, the insurer can cancel at any time but must return ...
Provision used to avoid duplication of coverage in other policies; to eliminate coverage for property under the care, custody, and control of an insured business; as well as to avoid ...
Coverage for personal property of a manufacturer on an all risks basis when that property is off the manufacturer's premises. ...
Length of time required to amortize the excess expenses of acquiring a given group of life insurance policies. In acquiring a policy, a life insurance company may incur expenses (such as ...
Transformation of a stock insurance company into a mutual insurance company, in which the stock company buys up and retires its shares. ...
Property owned by two or more parties in such a way that at the death of one, the survivors retain complete ownership of the property. ...
Trade group of independent claims adjusters who settle claims for insurance companies on a fee basis. Some insurers use their own staff adjusters to settle a claim. Others use an ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.