Segments (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Segments [Abstract]

Information by business segment

			North America Property		Accident						Corporate
			& Casualty		& Health		International		Investing		& Other		Consolidated
Three months ended March 31, 2015
Net earned premium			$	209,239	$	254,950	$	136,377	$	-	$	(3)	$	600,563
Other revenue				6,102		2,013		1,008		66,668		96		75,887
	Segment revenue			215,341		256,963		137,385		66,668		93		676,450
Loss and LAE				116,436		187,011		61,443		-		272		365,162
Other expense				68,348		38,665		47,311		-		6,136		160,460
	Segment expense			184,784		225,676		108,754		-		6,408		525,622
		Segment pretax earnings (loss)	$	30,557	$	31,287	$	28,631	$	66,668	$	(6,315)	$	150,828

Three months ended March 31, 2014
Net earned premium			$	201,334	$	232,143	$	128,844	$	-	$	291	$	562,612
Other revenue				5,431		1,640		976		77,052		1,219		86,318
	Segment revenue			206,765		233,783		129,820		77,052		1,510		648,930
Loss and LAE				103,553		170,805		56,314		-		74		330,746
Other expense				57,538		34,573		46,475		-		24,626		163,212
	Segment expense			161,091		205,378		102,789		-		24,700		493,958
		Segment pretax earnings (loss)	$	45,674	$	28,405	$	27,031	$	77,052	$	(23,190)	$	154,972

Schedule Of Goodwill [Text Block]

		North America Property		Accident
		& Casualty		& Health		International		Total
Balance at beginning of year		$	552,006	$	144,113	$	209,517	$	905,636
Acquisition of ProAg			45,000		-		-		45,000
Other, principally foreign exchange			100		-		(1,385)		(1,285)
	Balance at March 31, 2015	$	597,106	$	144,113	$	208,132	$	949,351

Total assets by segment

	March 31,		December 31,
	2015		2014
North America Property & Casualty	$	2,232,696	$	1,894,756
Accident & Health		244,394		242,278
International		1,092,640		1,073,889
Investing		7,178,088		7,228,608
Corporate & Other		278,479		274,815
Total	$	11,026,297	$	10,714,346