Policy Claims and Benefits (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Liability for Unpaid Claims and Claims Adjustment Expense [Roll Forward]

Liability for Future Policy Benefits and Unpaid Claims Disclosure [Text Block]

Policy Claims and Benefits

The liability for unpaid claims is reported in future policy benefits and other policy-related balances within the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. Activity associated with unpaid claims is summarized below (dollars in thousands):

	Nine months ended September 30,
	2019			2018
Balance at beginning of year	$	6,584,668		$	5,896,469
Less: reinsurance recoverable	(432,582		)	(455,547		)
Net balance at beginning of year	6,152,086			5,440,922
Incurred:
Current year	8,203,842			7,534,297
Prior years	108,023			97,336
Total incurred	8,311,865			7,631,633
Payments:
Current year	(2,937,099		)	(2,748,547		)
Prior years	(4,774,623		)	(4,222,550		)
Total payments	(7,711,722		)	(6,971,097		)
Other changes:
Interest accretion	19,887			18,550
Foreign exchange adjustments	(99,788		)	(153,247		)
Total other changes	(79,901		)	(134,697		)
Net balance at end the period	6,672,328			5,966,761
Plus: reinsurance recoverable	508,003			424,545
Balance at end of the period	$	7,180,331		$	6,391,306

Incurred claims related to prior years reflected in the table above resulted in part from developed claims for prior years being different than were anticipated when the liabilities for unpaid claims were originally estimated.  These trends have been considered in establishing the current year liability for unpaid claims.