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
Transfer of highly individualized loss exposures that is not based on the usual pooling principles of insurance such as risk identification and classification selection. Rather than setting ...
Maximum age of an applicant or insured beyond which an insurance company will not initially underwrite a risk or continue to insure it. For example, under some forms of renewable term life ...
Deferred annuity under which one premium payment is made and the annuity is paid up (no further premium payments are required). ...
Methods by which a home office underwriter chooses applicants that an insurer will accept. The underwriter's job is to spread the costs equitably among members of the group to be insured. ...
Section providing protection in four areas: Coverage A (Home) the structure of the home (basic contract amount). Other property coverages in Section I are expressed as a percentage of ...
Fund in a segregated account to provide for the return of unearned premiums on policies that are canceled. ...
Federal statute defining the federal tax code, covering such topics as credits against tax; business-related credits; computing credit for investment in certain depreciable property; ...
Financial instruments whose principal and income are not established in advance according to contractual terms set forth in the financial instruments document. Both the principal and income ...
Clause in an insurance policy that provides for the payment of a monetary sum to the individual (s) who incurred the loss. ...
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