Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), this is a change adopted by the Secretary, through regulation, to a standard or an implementation specification.

Under this system of calculating summary measures, the actuarial balance is defined as the difference between the arithmetic means of the annual cost rates and the annual income rates, with an adjustment included to account for the offsets to cost that are due to (1) the starting trust fund balance and (2) interest earned on the trust fund.

Rating method in which premiums are based on the average health care costs within a specific geographical region as modified by rating factors such as age and sex that have been filed with the state insurance department.

Third-party payer system in which physicians are paid for a unit of service provided with a set maximum fee for each service.

Ordinary life insurance that has premiums during the first few years (usually 5) that are slightly larger than the rate for term insurance. After that time period, the annual premium is higher.

Net premiums, other than level, that are lower for the first year and higher in subsequent years.

In life and health insurance, individual whose physical condition is less than standard or who has a dangerous occupation or hobby (e.g., history of stroke or race driver). An additional premium is required because of the possibility of loss from an impairment. Also called substandard risk or impaired risk .

In workers’ compensation cases, job that has been changed to allow an injured worker to perform (e.g., to alter a workstation so that the job can be done seated instead of standing or to adjust the content of the work to exclude tasks the worker is not able to perform). Also called modified job .

Type of whole life insurance in which the policy owner pays a lower than normal premium for a certain initial period and then the premium increases to a specific amount that is higher than usual, which is then paid for the life of the policy.