Policy Claims and Benefits

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Insurance [Abstract]

Short-Duration Insurance and Deposit Contracts [Text Block]

Policy Claims and Benefits

Rollforward of Claims and Claim Adjustment Expenses

The liability for unpaid claims is reported in future policy benefits and other policy claims and benefits on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets. Activity associated with unpaid claims is summarized below (dollars in millions):

	Three months ended March 31,
	2020			2019
Balance at beginning of year	$	6,786		$	6,585
Less: reinsurance recoverable	(564		)	(433		)
Net balance at beginning of year	6,222			6,152
Incurred:
Current year	2,838			2,808
Prior years	11			31
Total incurred	2,849			2,839
Payments:
Current year	(131		)	(187		)
Prior years	(2,342		)	(2,387		)
Total payments	(2,473		)	(2,574		)
Other changes:
Interest accretion	9			7
Foreign exchange adjustments	(283		)	10
Total other changes	(274		)	17
Net balance at end of period	6,324			6,434
Plus: reinsurance recoverable	580			500
Balance at end of period	$	6,904		$	6,934

Incurred claims associated with prior periods are primarily due to events, related to long-duration business, which were incurred in prior periods but were reported in the current period, and to a lesser extent, the development of short-duration business 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.