There are three major types of companies in the insurance industryLife companies include companies such as Mutual of New York (MONY), Allstate Life, Prudential, Manulife, Great West Life and Sun Life. First, life insurance companies provide individual life insurance policies (both whole life, which includes savings, and term insurance, which provides a benefit only upon the death of the insured person), annuities, accident and sickness insurance, income protection, group coverage for employers and so on. In addition to that is a factor that is applied if there is an investment portion to provide a payment to the insured person at a specified period of time. In life insurance, the determination of the premium is based upon preexisting conditions, life expectancy and interest rates. In the case of some lines of business in which the time between the payment of the premium and the expected time to pay a claim is substantial; then, an estimate of the investment income during that period of time can be used to reduce the premium level. The premium is developed to cover the overall cost of an insured group, and a small loading is applied for a profit margin.In the case of automobile insurance, the average cost of claims is determined, along with the loss frequency and the cost of operations. Premiums are usually determined on an actuarially sound basis to cover the risk accepted from the insured. In current times, risk is shared by a person paying a premium to an insurance company in return for the company agreeing to pay an agreed amount upon the occurrence of a certain event. |