15 . commitments and contingencies in the ordinary course of business , the company is involved in lawsuits , arbitrations and other formal and informal dispute resolution procedures , the outcomes of which will determine the company 2019s rights and obligations under insurance and reinsurance agreements . in some disputes , the company seeks to enforce its rights under an agreement or to collect funds owing to it . in other matters , the company is resisting attempts by others to collect funds or enforce alleged rights . these disputes arise from time to time and are ultimately resolved through both informal and formal means , including negotiated resolution , arbitration and litigation . in all such matters , the company believes that its positions are legally and commercially reasonable . the company considers the statuses of these proceedings when determining its reserves for unpaid loss and loss adjustment expenses . aside from litigation and arbitrations related to these insurance and reinsurance agreements , the company is not a party to any other material litigation or arbitration . the company has entered into separate annuity agreements with the prudential insurance of america ( 201cthe prudential 201d ) and an additional unaffiliated life insurance company in which the company has either purchased annuity contracts or become the assignee of annuity proceeds that are meant to settle claim payment obligations in the future . in both instances , the company would become contingently liable if either the prudential or the unaffiliated life insurance company were unable to make payments related to the respective annuity contract . the table below presents the estimated cost to replace all such annuities for which the company was contingently liable for the periods indicated: .

1	( dollars in thousands )	at december 31 , 2017	at december 31 , 2016
2	the prudential insurance company of america	$ 144618	$ 146507
3	unaffiliated life insurance company	34444	33860

16 . share-based compensation plans the company has a 2010 stock incentive plan ( 201c2010 employee plan 201d ) , a 2009 non-employee director stock option and restricted stock plan ( 201c2009 director plan 201d ) and a 2003 non-employee director equity compensation plan ( 201c2003 director plan 201d ) . under the 2010 employee plan , 4000000 common shares have been authorized to be granted as non- qualified share options , incentive share options , share appreciation rights , restricted share awards or performance share unit awards to officers and key employees of the company . at december 31 , 2017 , there were 2553473 remaining shares available to be granted under the 2010 employee plan . the 2010 employee plan replaced a 2002 employee plan , which replaced a 1995 employee plan ; therefore , no further awards will be granted under the 2002 employee plan or the 1995 employee plan . through december 31 , 2017 , only non-qualified share options , restricted share awards and performance share unit awards had been granted under the employee plans . under the 2009 director plan , 37439 common shares have been authorized to be granted as share options or restricted share awards to non-employee directors of the company . at december 31 , 2017 , there were 34957 remaining shares available to be granted under the 2009 director plan . the 2009 director plan replaced a 1995 director plan , which expired . under the 2003 director plan , 500000 common shares have been authorized to be granted as share options or share awards to non-employee directors of the company . at december 31 , 2017 there were 346714 remaining shares available to be granted under the 2003 director plan. .

Question: what was the change in the balance of the prudential insurance company of america from 2016 to 2017?
Answer: -1889