Dividend Payment Restrictions [Text Block]

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Notes

Dividend Payment Restrictions

Note 17.Dividend Payment Restrictions and Statutory Information    Our insurance subsidiaries are restricted by state laws and regulations as to the amount of dividends they may pay to their parent without regulatory approval in any year. Any dividends in excess of limits are deemed “extraordinary” and require approval. Based on statutory results as of December 31, 2019, in accordance with applicable dividend restrictions, our insurance subsidiaries could pay dividends of approximately $31,287,000 in 2020 without obtaining regulatory approval. There are no regulatory restrictions on the ability of our holding company, IHC, to pay dividends. Under Delaware law, IHC is permitted to pay dividends from surplus or net profits for the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared and/or the preceding fiscal year. Dividends to shareholders are paid from funds available at the corporate holding company level. In 2019, upon receiving regulatory approvals, our insurance subsidiaries declared and paid extraordinary statutory dividends aggregating $165,472,000 to their parent company. The extraordinary dividends consisted of cash and the common and preferred shares issued by their affiliate, Madison Investors Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.   Non-“extraordinary” dividend payments were as follows:  (i) Madison National Life declared and paid cash dividends of $0 and $12,035,000 to its parent in 2019 and 2018, respectively; (ii) Standard Security Life declared and paid dividends of $0 and $3,000,000 to its parent in 2019 and 2018, respectively; and (iii) Independence American declared and paid dividends of  $18,000,000 and $8,400,000 to its parent in 2019 and 2018, respectively. IHC declared cash dividends of $0.40 per share or $5,963,000 in 2019 and $0.30 per share or $4,468,000 in 2018.   The Company’s insurance subsidiaries are required to prepare statutory financial statements in accordance with statutory accounting practices prescribed or permitted by the insurance department of their state of domicile. Statutory accounting practices differ from U.S. GAAP in several respects causing differences in reported net income and stockholder’s equity. The Company’s insurance subsidiaries have no permitted accounting practices, which encompass all accounting practices not so prescribed that have been specifically allowed by the state insurance authorities.

The statutory net income and statutory capital and surplus for each of the Company’s insurance subsidiaries are as follows for the periods indicated (in thousands):

		Years Ended December 31,
		2019		2018
Statutory net income:
Madison National Life	$	16,460	$	16,050
Standard Security Life		5,246		8,291
Independence American		19,030		18,015

		December 31,
		2019		2018
Statutory capital and surplus:
Madison National Life	$	83,256	$	196,031
Standard Security Life		57,069		70,792
Independence American		84,533		82,986

The insurance subsidiaries are also required to maintain certain minimum amounts of statutory surplus to satisfy their various state insurance departments of domicile. Risk-based capital (“RBC”) requirements are designed to assess capital adequacy and to raise the level of protection that statutory surplus provides for policyholders. At December 31, 2019 and 2018, the statutory capital of our insurance subsidiaries is significantly in excess of their regulatory RBC requirements.