US:(1) an amount representing liabilities kept by an insurer to provide for future commitments under policies outstanding. (2) An amount allocated for a special purpose. Note that a reserve is usually a liability and not an extra fund.
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A sum set aside by a company to fulfill future claims.
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UK: an amount built up in the early years of a group of policies, when the level of premiums is greater than required to meet claims, expenses etc, and used to pay claims in later years when the premiums are less than required; often also referred to as a provision (see technical provisions and equalisation provision).
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US: An amount of money earmarked for a specific purpose. Insurers establish unearned premium reserves and loss reserves indicated on their balance sheets. Unearned premium reserves show the aggregate amount of premiums that would be returned to policyholders if all policies were canceled on the date the balance sheet was prepared. Loss reserves are estimates of outstanding losses, loss adjustment expenses (LAEs), and other related items. Self-insured organizations also maintain loss reserves.
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REINSURANCE: An amount which is established to provide for payment of a future obligation.
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MEDICAL,USA: Funds set aside and designated for future financial liabilities for life or health insurance such as to meet the difference between future benefits and future premiums. Also called prospective reserve or policy reserve . See policy reserve .
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Funds set aside for the purpose of meeting obligations as they fall due.
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The amount kept by the insurer to be able to cover all his or her debts. This term can also refer to an amount earmarked by the insurer for a specific purpose.

A trust that can be terminated or revoked by its creator.

US: (1) A document which amends the policy or certificate. It may increase or decrease benefits, waive the condition of coverage or in any other way amend the original contract. (2) A special policy provision or group of provisions that may be added to a policy to expand or limit the benefits otherwise payable. (3) A document that modifies the policy. It may increase or decrease benefits, waive a condition or coverage, or in any other way amend the original contract.
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A document that modifies the protection of a policy, either expanding or decreasing its benefits or adding or excluding certain conditions from the policy. Same as an Endorsement.
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A document, attached to a policy, that changes the policy’s coverage, either by increasing or decresing benefits, or barring some conditions from coverage.
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US: A form that is attached to a surety or fidelity bond that alters the provisions of the bond form in some manner. A rider is the surety and fidelity equivalent of an insurance policy endorsement, and though not common, insurance endorsements are sometimes called riders.
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Another term for an endorsement attached to a policy that modifies the coverage.
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MEDICAL, US: See: endorsement, amendment, and waiver .
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Usually known as an endorsement, a rider is an amendment to the policy used to add or delete coverage.

An industry association of risk managers that publishes several periodicals, lobbies, sponsors seminars, and conducts an annual conference.
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Trade association of risk managers and insurance buyers.

The process by which a company decides how its premium rates for life insurance should differ according to the risk characteristics of individuals insured (e.g., age, occupation, sex, state of health) and then applies the resulting rules to individual applications. (See: Underwriting)
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UK: Underwriters combine individual risks into groups or ‘classes. This facilitates the underwriting process and enables individual proposals to be considered in the light of the class to which they belong. Some classes, e.g. total abstainers, mature applicants, may receive preferential treatment while others may belong to an excluded class, e.g. a motor insurer might exclude jockeys or others with a high exposure.

US: A group formed in compliance with the Risk Retention Act of 1986 authorizing a group of insureds engaged in similar businesses or activities to purchase insurance coverage from a commercial insurer. This is in contrast to a risk retention group (RRG), which actually bears the group’s risks rather than obtaining coverage on behalf of group members.
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A group of similarly situated persons or entities that are permitted under federal law to organize across state lines to buy insurance. The carrier that sells insurance to the group must be licensed in at least one state but need not be licensed in every state where a member of the group resides.
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UK Alternative risk transfer term that refers to collective insurance buying.

A method developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to determine the minimum amount of capital required of an insurer to support its operations and write coverage. The insurer’s risk profile (i.e., the amount and classes of business it writes) is used to determine its risk-based capital requirement. Four categories of risk are analyzed in arriving at an insurer’s minimum capital requirement

US: (1) A program for providing group insurance with benefits financed entirely through the internal means of the policyholder, in place of purchasing coverage from commercial carriers. (2) A form of risk financing through which a firm assumes all or a part of its own losses.
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A form of risk financing through which a firm assumes all or a part of its own losses.
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An alternative to insurance through an insurer that is generally only available to very large organizations. A self-insured company must make arrangements to meet future risks by setting aside enough money for the anticipated losses and even those that cannot be anticipated.
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An insurance-like strategy for handling one’s own exposures to loss supported by the financial wherewithal to meet expected losses. Not to be confused with a decision to forego insurance.
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REINSURANCE: Setting aside of funds by an individual or organization or ceding company to meet his or its losses and to absorb fluctuations in the amount of loss, the losses being charged against the funds so set aside or accumulated
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MEDICAL, US: System or program of insurance for employees and their dependents in which employers (generally companies with 500 or more employees) establish a plan and assume the functions, responsibilities, and liabilities of an insurer. Health care expenses are paid through a special fund established by the employer. Such plans may be self-administered or the employer may contract with a third-party administrator (TPA) for administrative services only (ASO). Self-insured plans are exempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) from state insurance laws, state-mandated requirements for employer health benefit programs, state taxes on insurance premiums, and participation in state risk pools or uncompensated care plans. Also called self-funding, self-insured, employer self-insured program, or partially self-funded .
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UK: The payment of losses as they become due by an individual, partnership or corporation that retains all or part of its own risks. High frequency/low impact losses are paid out of cash flow. In other cases the firm retains the first portion of other losses to be paid out of reserves and insures the excess of the retention. Self-insurance is distinguished from non-insurance because it represents a formalised accrual of liabilities. See PLANNED RISK ASSUMPTION; CAPTIVE INSURANCE COMPANY.
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The retention of risk by an individual or organization, as distinct from obtaining insurance cover. Large commercial concerns may opt for self-insurance on the grounds that they are avoiding the extra expenses and profit loadings of an insurance policy and have sufficiently strong finances to cope with their likely losses. In practice, they will typically still seek insurance against very large losses by having insurance contracts with very high excesses. Effectively, having any non-zero excess implies a level of self-insurance. Owning a captive insurance is a means of arranging for self-insurance, with cover for every large losses being arranged by the captive by means of reinsurance.

Payments to the surviving spouse of a deceased employee, usually in the form of a series of payments upon meeting certain requirements and usually terminating with the survivor’s remarriage or death.

US: A department of a state government whose duty is to regulate the business of insurance and give the public information on insurance.
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An administrative agency that licenses insurers to do business in that state, licenses insurance agents, implements state insurance laws, and supervises (within the scope of these laws) the activities of insurers operating within the state.
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MEDICAL, USA: See: state insurance commission .