2015 includes higher loss experience and adverse claim development on 2015 individual major medical policies. During 2012, we incurred losses of $250,206, net of reinsurance, mainly associated with Superstorm Sandy. During 2011, we incurred losses of $157,645 associated with Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, wildfires in Texas and severe storms, including tornadoes in the southeast. Reportable catastrophe losses include only individual catastrophic events that generated losses to the Company in excess of $5,000, pre-tax and net of reinsurance.
During 2011, we had an $80,000 release of a capital loss valuation allowance related to deferred tax assets.
Consolidated net income decreased $329,352, or 70%, to $141,555 for Twelve Months 2015 from $470,907 for Twelve Months 2014. The decrease was primarily related to higher loss experience and adverse claims development on 2015 individual major medical policies, a reduction in the 2014 estimated recoveries from the Affordable Care Act risk mitigation programs and $106,389 (after-tax) of exit and disposal costs, including premium deficiency reserve accruals, severance and retention costs, long-lived asset impairments and other costs associated with our exit from the health insurance market.
Assurant Solutions net income decreased $21,765, or 10%, to $197,183 for Twelve Months 2015 from $218,948 for Twelve Months 2014. The decrease was primarily due to the previously disclosed loss of a domestic mobile tablet program and declining service contract volumes at certain North American retail clients.
Total revenues were relatively flat at $4,178,140 for Twelve Months 2015 compared with $4,179,360 for Twelve Months 2014. Net earned premiums decreased $113,022 primarily due to foreign exchange volatility, the loss of a domestic mobile tablet program and the continued run-off of our credit insurance business. These items were partially offset by growth from our auto warranty business and from a large domestic service contract client.
The Twelve Months 2015 expense ratio increased 620 basis points compared with Twelve Months 2014. The increase was primarily due to lower net earned premiums and higher legal costs related to outstanding matters. In addition, growth in fee-based businesses, which have higher expense ratios than our insurance products, contributed to the increase.
Management believes the Company will have sufficient liquidity to satisfy its needs over the next twelve months including the ability to pay interest on our senior notes and dividends on our common stock.
For Twelve Months 2015, net cash provided by operating activities, including the effect of exchange rate changes and the reclassification of assets held for sale on cash and cash equivalents, totaled $192,483; net cash provided by investing activities totaled $264,293 and net cash used in financing activities totaled $487,127. We had $1,288,305 in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2015. Please see “ - Liquidity and Capital Resources,” below for further details.
Interest rate volatility can increase or reduce unrealized gains or losses in our investment portfolios. Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary policies, domestic and international economic and political conditions and other factors beyond our control. Fluctuations in interest rates affect our returns on, and the market value of, fixed maturity and short-term investments.
Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act introduced new and significant premium stabilization programs. These programs, discussed in further detail below, are meant to mitigate the potential adverse impact to individual health insurers as a result of Affordable Care Act provisions that became effective January 1, 2014.A three-year (2014-2016) reinsurance program provides reimbursement to insurers for high cost individual business sold on or off the public marketplaces. The reinsurance entity established by HHS is funded by a per-member reinsurance fee assessed on all commercial medical plans, including self-insured group health plans. Only Affordable Care Act individual plans are eligible for recoveries if claims exceed a specified threshold, up to a reinsurance cap. Reinsurance contributions associated with Affordable Care Act individual plans are reported as a reduction in net earned premiums in the consolidated statements of operations, and estimated reinsurance recoveries are established as reinsurance recoverables in the consolidated balance sheets with an offsetting reduction in policyholder benefits in the consolidated statement of operations. Reinsurance fee contributions for non-Affordable Care Act business are reported in underwriting, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statement of operations.
The following table provides reserve information for our major product lines for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014:
For a description of our reserving methodology, see Note 13 to the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this report.
Case or claim reserves are set for active individual claims on group long term disability policies and for waiver of premium benefits on group term life policies. Reserve factors used to calculate these reserves reflect assumptions regarding disabled life mortality and claim recovery rates, claim management practices, awards for social security and other benefit offsets and yield rates earned on assets supporting the reserves. Group long term disability and group term life waiver of premium reserves are discounted because the payment pattern and ultimate cost are fixed and determinable on an individual claim basis.
Key sensitivities as of December 31, 2015 for short duration medical reserves include claims processing levels, claims under case management, medical inflation, seasonal effects, medical provider discounts and product mix. The effects of these sensitivities can be summarized by adjusting loss development factors, as follows:
This refers to loss development factors for the most recent four months. Our historical claims experience indicates that approximately 87.5% of medical claims are paid within four months of the incurred date.
Each of these data groupings produces an indication of the loss reserves for the product or product grouping. The process to select the best estimate differs by line of business. The single best estimate is determined based on many factors, including but not limited to:
Any equity security whose price decline is deemed other-than-temporary is written down to its then current market value with the amount of the impairment reported as a realized loss in that period. The impairment of a fixed maturity security that the Company has the intent to sell or that it is more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell is deemed other-than-temporary and is written down to its market value at the balance sheet date, with the amount of the impairment reported as a realized loss in that period. For all other-than-temporarily impaired fixed maturity securities that do not meet either of these two criteria, the Company analyzes its ability to recover the amortized cost of the security by calculating the net present value of projected future cash flows. For these other-than-temporarily impaired fixed maturity securities, the net amount recognized in earnings is equal to the difference between its amortized cost and its net present value.
We have used reinsurance to exit certain businesses, including blocks of individual life, annuity, and long-term care business. The reinsurance recoverables relating to these dispositions amounted to $4,607,056 and $4,549,699 at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.