Loss before taxes from the corporate segment decreased $.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2008 compared to the prior year primarily due to lower expenses offset by losses from partnership investments;
Total premiums earned grew $48.2 million to $306.9 million from $258.7 million in 2006. The increase is primarily due to: (i) the Fully Insured segment which had a $39.4 million increase in premiums (comprised of a $25.0 million increase in small group premiums as a result of the acquisition of a block of business which transitioned to the Company's paper in the third quarter of 2006, a $4.8 million increase in dental premiums primarily due to the continued transition of GroupLink premiums to MNL as a carrier, a $4.0 million increase in short-term medical premiums and a $5.6 million increase due to new vision, limited medical and student accident products in 2007); and (ii) the Medical Stop-Loss segment, which increased $9.3 million primarily due to an increase in assumed business.
Benefits, claims and reserves increased $52.8 million. The increase is mainly due to: (i) an increase of $20.5 million in the Medical Stop-Loss segment, primarily resulting from an increase in claims experience and reserve strengthening of $11.9 million related to 2006 business and $5.6 million due to an increase in the Projected Net Loss Ratio on 2007 business, as described in further detail below; and the remainder, as a result of the increase in assumed premiums, and (ii) an increase of $31.8 million in the Fully Insured Health segment, primarily due to the increase in volume and adverse development of $1.2 million related to the 2006 year, as described below in Reserve Strengthening.
Net cash used by investing activities of continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2008 was $47.0 million primarily as a result of net purchases of $79.1 million of fixed maturities and $47.1 million of securities under resale and repurchase agreements, partially offset by $15.7 million in net proceeds on sales of equity securities in addition to $57.3 million received in connection with the acquisition of a block of life insurance and annuity policies.
The Company has $478.9 million of insurance reserves that it expects to ultimately pay out of current assets and cash flows from future business. If necessary, the Company could utilize the cash received from maturities and repayments of its fixed maturity investments if the timing of claim payments associated with the Company's insurance resources does not coincide with future cash flows. For the year ended December 31, 2008, cash received from the maturities and other repayments of fixed maturities was $74.7 million.
IHC has historically been a life and health insurance holding company for two insurance companies, Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New York ("Standard Security Life") and Madison National Life Insurance Company, Inc. ("Madison National Life"), which relied on independent general agents, managing general underwriters ("MGUs") and administrators to perform the majority of all marketing, underwriting, claims and administrative functions for our two primary product segments (Medical Stop-Loss and group disability, life, annuities and DBL). While it is always our intent to
Due to the continued turmoil in the capital markets, IHC, like many insurance and other companies in the financial sector, recognized a loss in 2008 for other-than-temporary impairments. These impairments were realized on certain investments in preferred stocks and fixed maturities (primarily Alt-A mortgage securities). These preferred stocks were investment-grade preferred stocks issued by well-known financial institutions and account for approximately 4% of our total investment portfolio. Our fixed maturity portfolio continues to be rated on average AA, and the Company considers all unrealized losses in this category to be temporary. We have no direct investments in sub-prime mortgages, although approximately 4% of our total investment portfolio is Alt-A mortgages. While these mortgages have seen lower market values recently, we believe that the unrealized losses on these securities are not necessarily indicative of their ultimate performance. Our book value per share decreased to $10.56 at December 31, 2008 from $14.63 at December 31, 2007 due to a net loss and changes in the fair value of our investment portfolio. To the extent that the capital markets remain unsettled, we may continue to see volatility in the market price of our equity and fixed maturity securities, which could have a negative impact on our net income and book value per share.