Health Insurance Futures
Definition of "Health insurance futures"
One-year futures contract (standardized agreement between two parties to buy or sell a commodity or financial instrument on an organized futures exchange such as the CBOT within some future time period at a present stipulated price), traded at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), which would allow health insurance companies and self-insured employers to hedge their losses. The essential design of this contract is such that when actual claims exceed expected claims by amount "X," the futures contract would increase by the same amount "X." The financial instrument that forms the basis of this futures contract is an index that reflects the claims experience of ten health insurance companies. By buying futures contracts that will appreciate in the future as claims increase in the future, insurance companies and self-insured employers can profit from increasing futures prices through which they can offset their losses. Accordingly, by selling futures contracts that will decline in the future, these organizations can profit from decreasing futures prices that can be used to offset smaller cash flow. For example, if a health insurance company buys a futures contract for $40,000 and then sells it for $50,000, the company will recognize a profit of $10,000, which can be used to pay the higher than expected claims incurred. The cost effectiveness of hedging through the buying and selling of futures contracts depends on high correlations between expected claims payments and the futures contracts prices. If there is a low correlation between expected claims payments and the futures contracts prices, the less cost effective the hedge becomes. Thus, it is critical for the insurance company or the self-insured employer to establish the correlation between its block of business and the health insurance futures index.
Popular Insurance Terms
Organization founded in 1993, the thesis of which is to apply quality management principles to insurance functions. To this end, the organization is involved in insurance industry-wide ...
Uneven quality of a product made by the same manufacturer. A manufacturer is responsible for producing products of similar quality, and can be held liable for those that deviate materially ...
Total amount of insurance on an insurer's books at a particular time. ...
Measure of the sensitivity of the insurance company's liability for the resultant higher expense rates than charged for in the premium. ...
Section of a policy specifying: parties to the contract (the insurance company and the person or business to be insured); terms of the policy when it goes into force, and when it ends; ...
Insured, or an applicant for insurance, with lower expectation of incurring a loss than the standard applicant. For example, an applicant for life insurance who does not smoke can usually ...
Addition to boiler and machinery insurance that covers loss to property or equipment caused by an interruption of power by a public utility. Coverage is available either on an hourly or ...
Sum total of the annual effective rate of return earned by an owner of a bond if that bond is held until its maturity date. This effective return includes the current income generated by ...
Amount established by an insurance company, but not required by state law, for any of a number of reasons, such as a reserve for payment of future dividends. A voluntary reserve is likely ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.