Prognostic features of menopausal and postmenopausal applicants for life insurance

The increasing proportion of the aged in the population is posing significant new challenges to politics, society and medicine as well. Gerontology and geriatrics are playing a role in all areas of preventive and curative medicine. Since the life expectancy of women is approximately eight years longer than that of men, gynecology draws special significance from the fact that the greater part of an aging society will primarily be comprise of women. The medical treatment and care of women in climacteric and postmenopause in the past is seriously inadequate by today's standards. The attitude in earlier years of not making any great investment of cost or personnel in patients over 75 can, in view of the vitality of modern-day senior citizens, no longer be justified or maintained. The necessity of establishing old-age gynecology becomes more and more clear and urgent. The decrease of ovarian function in menopause is without doubt an important turning point in the life of a woman. The first signs of aging are inescapable. Following these years a woman still has more than one third of life expectancy ahead of her which she would like to and should spend in good mental, spiritual and physical health. The principle of postmenopausal hormone replacement has shown itself to be amazingly successful in treating climacteric disorders and their effects on the entire organism. Treatment over many years with as board a spectrum as possible of preventive hormones to combat the long-term consequences of hormone deficiency, like osteoporosis-related fractures, heart attacks, or strokes, is one of the great medical advances of our time. Furthermore, the significance of preventing a number of genital concern manifestations through hormone replacement therapy cannot be overestimated. Gynecology has taken a remarkable step toward its goal of enabling aging women to spend the third part of their lives free of unnecessary diseases and suffering. In 1994, after consultation with representatives of European countries during the World Congress of the International Menopause Society, a statement was published by the menopause society of German-speaking countries. In this consensus paper, a stand was taken on hormone replacement therapy in postmenopause. The purpose of this paper was to serve as an aid in formulating and interpreting the text in the package inserts that are enclosed with hormone preparations. The most important passages were to once again summarize the present status of knowledge on hormone replacement therapy and its risks and benefits: (Estradiol is the estrogen normally produced by a woman's ovaries that exercises all functions of the natural follicle hormone. It is used to treat all symptoms of estrogen deficiency). Estrogen eliminates, or mitigates, all typical symptoms of estrogen deficiency in menopause, including hot flashes, night sweats and other complaints frequently observed like nervousness, sleep disturbance and depression, with great reliability. Estrogen stimulates the cell division of an aging organism, of mucous membranes, of supportive and connective tissue. It improves the blood circulation and the salt and water content. Furthermore, estrogen prevents or eliminates deterioration in the urogenital area and the disorders that result from such deterioration. Estrogen prevents or retards bone deterioration, osteoporosis and spinal, lower arm and femur fractures. By positively influencing HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, blood vessels and circulation, long-term estrogen replacement inhibits the development of arteriosclerosis and nearly halves the frequency of heart attacks and strokes. The mortality rate of women over 50 is therefore decreased significantly and life expectancy increased. (Benefits to the blood vessels of such preventive treatment can already be seen after five years of estrogen therapy and their benefits continue for several years after treatment is stopped.     

Statistical analysis of HIV seropositive results from 1988-1993 performed on life insurance applicants

This review of statistical data, derived from HIV antibody testing performed on life insurance applicants over a period of five and one-half years, reflects the evolving nature of the HIV epidemic in the United States and demonstrates how the findings in the life insurance low risk population mirror the trends and changes that are occurring in the general population.     

Reviewing European life insurance regulation: A marketing perspective

In 1988 the discussions about a Single European Market (SEM) in life insurance intensified. Because of the impetus the Single European Act (SEA) gave to the construction of the internal market in general, there was a greater emphasis on creating a single market in financial services. Streamlined policy-making processes and the enhancement of compromise and interaction between the Member States accompanied this on increasing and expanding issues. To identify these processes the paper surveys the literature regarding the European treaties, European decision-making procedures, and the use of European interest groups in the formulation of the Third Life Assurance Directive. Fundamentally, the paper argues that through economic and political incentives, there was a more concerted effort in the creation of a SEM in life insurance and that this creates new dynamics for the field of marketing.     

Considerations of a gold-denominated life insurance policy

Global inflation and economic cyclical fluctuations have accelerated the depreciation rate of monetary assets. Safeguarding the purchasing power of long-term life insurance products’ cash flow becomes an issue of great theoretical and practical significance for life insurance. Using data from China, this article designs a long-term life insurance policy denominated in ounces of gold, and compares it with traditional long-term life insurance policies. For the time frame of interest to this study, we confirm that a long-term life insurance policy denominated in ounces of gold provided significant protection against the effects of inflation and economic cyclical fluctuations. We propose a risk management program aimed at price risk, interest rate risk, currency risk and investment risk as a result of the insurance policy denominated in ounces. Our recommended strategy includes an inducing index method to hedge against the losses caused by price fluctuations of gold.     

寿险保单强制执行的法律问题研究

寿险保单属典型的财产权,在保险事故发生之前相关权利主要归属投保人,在法律上为民诉法相关司法解释所规定的债权,可被法院强制执行。法院在执行寿险保单时,不得直接要求保险公司解除寿险保单,而应要求投保人解除寿险保单并由保险公司协助扣划保单现金价值。企业为员工购买的寿险保单不得因企业负债而被执行,投保人为被执行人时应允许被保险人或受益人支付对价取得投保人地位。本文同时就保险公司如何应对协助执行寿险保单时可能面临的风险提出了对策。     

A performance analysis of participating life insurance contracts

Traditional life insurance products, in particular participating life insurance contracts, are often criticized. Their performance is often said to be poor compared to other investment alternatives. Interestingly, this perception appears to persist although very little research has been conducted into the performance of participating life insurance contracts. But are participating life insurance contracts actually bad for policyholders? We conduct a performance analysis based on contracts offered in the German market, in order to provide evidence to support decision making by policyholders.     

A proposal for a new basis of life insurance calculations in Norway

Abstract

The basis used by Norwegian life insurance companies for the calculation of premiums and reserves is, as regards insurances, The Institute of Actuaries Life Tables H ^M (20 British Life Offices tables) with interest at 4 per cent. This basis has been used by Norwegian companies for more than thirty-five years and has proved entirely safe.     

Optimal life insurance with no-borrowing constraints: duality approach and example

We solve an optimal portfolio choice problem under a no-borrowing assumption. A duality approach is applied to study a family’s optimal consumption, optimal portfolio choice, and optimal life insurance purchase when the family receives labor income that may be terminated due to the wage earner’s premature death or retirement. We establish the existence of an optimal solution to the optimization problem theoretically by the duality approach and we provide an explicitly solved example with numerical illustration. Our results illustrate that the no-borrowing constraints do not always impact the family’s optimal decisions on consumption, portfolio choice, and life insurance. When the constraints are binding, there must exist a wealth depletion time (WDT) prior to the retirement date, and the constraints indeed reduce the optimal consumption and the life insurance purchase at the beginning of time. However, the optimal consumption under the constraints will become larger than that without the constraints at some time later than the WDT.     

The pricing of audit and non-audit services in a regulated environment: a longitudinal study of the UK life insurance industry

This paper studies the relationship between audit and non-audit service fees paid to the statutory auditor by UK life insurance firms, utilising an extensive panel-data sample set for the period 1999–2009. Consistent with a knowledge spillover (impairment of independence) hypothesis, we predict and find that audit fees are positively (negatively) associated with actuarial (tax service) fees. Additionally, our results indicate that regulatory changes enforced after 2004 deterred UK life insurance firms from purchasing non-audit services that are perceived to impair auditor independence. Finally, we find evidence concerning the inter-temporal determination of audit fees.     

Characterizations of optimal reinsurance treaties: a cost-benefit approach

This article investigates optimal reinsurance treaties minimizing an insurer’s risk-adjusted liability, which encompasses a risk margin quantified by distortion risk measures. Via the introduction of a transparent cost-benefit argument, we extend the results in Cui et al. [Cui, W., Yang, J. & Wu, L. (2013). Optimal reinsurance minimizing the distortion risk measure under general reinsurance premium principles. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics 53, 74–85] and provide full characterizations on the set of optimal reinsurance treaties within the class of non-decreasing, 1-Lipschitz functions. Unlike conventional studies, our results address the issue of (non-)uniqueness of optimal solutions and indicate that ceded loss functions beyond the traditional insurance layers can be optimal in some cases. The usefulness of our novel cost-benefit approach is further demonstrated by readily solving the dual problem of minimizing the reinsurance premium while maintaining the risk-adjusted liability below a fixed tolerance level.     

寿险公司负债价值计量研究

有效的资产负债管理以寿险公司资产和负债价值的正确计量为基础。寿险负债的长期性和多种嵌入期权的特性使寿险公司资产负债管理更具复杂性。寿险负债价值计量的精算方法注重于它的死亡率风险测定的技术秘诀和期限的长期性,但该方法使期权的效应无从体现,也使在利率和被保险人行为的静态假设不成立的前提下,负债价值被低估的情况发生。因此,必须辅之于财务方法来测量期权在寿险合约中的价值。本文对寿险合约中期权价值的测量及其对ALM的作用也做了探讨。     

寿险公司偿付能力监管的有效性研究

寿险公司偿付能力不足导致的后果是非常严重的,有效的偿付能力监管对寿险行业的健康发展更是举足轻重。目前,中国保监会借鉴国外偿付能力监管经验,逐步运用各种偿付能力监管方法来加强对寿险企业的监管。但深入了解各种偿付能力监管方法之间的有效性差异,才是我们在实践中加以取舍的关键。本文从有效性的定义入手,深入阐述偿付能力监管有效性评价标准。随后介绍了近年来寿险公司偿付能力监管有效性研究的主要方法及相关结论,最后,本文指出了偿付能力监管有效性研究对中国的借鉴意义,指出了在中国开展偿付能力监管有效性研究的重要性和迫切性。     

保险公司具有信息优势下的保险市场均衡问题研究

本文应用博弈论的方法,分析了当保险公司拥有信息优势时,在完全竞争、垄断经营和销售渠道垄断等不同竞争条件下的市场均衡状况,并通过航意险业务的实际发展过程说明从保险业长远发展角度看,应着力培养市场竞争环境,推动保险费率市场化,丰富保险销售渠道,提高投保人理性购买保险的意识,促使市场实现公平、有效的均衡。     

Analysis of accelerated death benefit claims at a Japanese life insurance company

We studied accelerated death benefit (ADB) claims at the Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company (Dai-ichi Life). The ADB provision is designed to pay all or a portion of the death benefit if the insured is expected to die within 6 months. Dai-ichi Life paid 243 ADB claims and did not pay 17 ADB claims between December 1994 and March 1998. Of the 260 ADB claims, 253 (97.3%) were caused by malignant neoplasm, 2 by intracranial hemorrhage, 2 by angina pectoris, 1 by dilated cardiomyopathy, 1 by hepatic cirrhosis, and 1 by bleeding gastric ulcer. The age range of the 243 paid claims at the time when the attendant physician predicted a life expectancy below 6 months was 21.6-72.6 years (48.7 +/- 8.7 years [Mean +/- SD]). By the end of March 2000, 236 cases were followed up among the above 243 paid ADB claims. Of the 236 followed-up cases, 149 (63.1%) died within 6 months and 203 (86.0%) died within 1 year. The range of survival periods of these 236 cases was 6-1516 days (210 +/- 237 days). Of the 217 dead cases due to malignant neoplasm, 45 (20.7%) died of gastric cancer, 44 (20.3%) of lung cancer, 24 (11.1%) of liver cancer, 16 (7.4%) of colon cancer, 13 (6.0%) of rectum cancer, and 12 (5.5%) of pancreatic cancer.