Rate Making
Process of calculating a premium so that it is adequate-sufficient to pay losses according to expected frequency and severity, thereby safeguarding against the insurance company becoming insolvent; reasonable-the insurance company should not be able to earn an excessive profit; and not unfairly discriminatory or inequitable. Theoretically, it can be said that each insurance applicant should pay a unique premium to reflect a different expectation of loss, but this would be impractical. Instead, classifications are established for applicants to be grouped according to similar expectation of loss. Statistical studies of a large number of nearly homogeneous exposures in each underwriting classification enable the projection of losses after adjustments for future inflation and statistical irregularities. The adjusted statistics are used to calculate the pure cost of protection, or pure premium, to which the insurance company adds on loads for agent commissions, premium taxes, administrative expenses, contingency reserves, other acquisition costs, and profit margin. The result is the gross premium to be charged to the insured.
Popular Insurance Terms
Organization founded in 1993, the thesis of which is to apply quality management principles to insurance functions. To this end, the organization is involved in insurance industry-wide ...
Uneven quality of a product made by the same manufacturer. A manufacturer is responsible for producing products of similar quality, and can be held liable for those that deviate materially ...
Total amount of insurance on an insurer's books at a particular time. ...
Measure of the sensitivity of the insurance company's liability for the resultant higher expense rates than charged for in the premium. ...
Section of a policy specifying: parties to the contract (the insurance company and the person or business to be insured); terms of the policy when it goes into force, and when it ends; ...
Insured, or an applicant for insurance, with lower expectation of incurring a loss than the standard applicant. For example, an applicant for life insurance who does not smoke can usually ...
Addition to boiler and machinery insurance that covers loss to property or equipment caused by an interruption of power by a public utility. Coverage is available either on an hourly or ...
Sum total of the annual effective rate of return earned by an owner of a bond if that bond is held until its maturity date. This effective return includes the current income generated by ...
Amount established by an insurance company, but not required by state law, for any of a number of reasons, such as a reserve for payment of future dividends. A voluntary reserve is likely ...
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