Included in net realized gains are other-than-temporary impairments of $6,874, $5,024, $30, $4,387 and $1,843 for 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.
We report our results through five segments: Global Housing, Global Lifestyle, Global Preneed, Total Corporate and Other and Assurant Employee Benefits. Total Corporate and Other includes Corporate and Other activities of the holding company, financing and interest expenses, net realized gains (losses) on investments and interest income earned from short-term investments held. Corporate and Other also includes the amortization of deferred gains and gains associated with the sales of FFG, LTC and Assurant Employee Benefits, through reinsurance agreements and other unusual and infrequent items as described below. Additionally, the Total Corporate and Other segment includes amounts related to the runoff of the Assurant Health business. As Assurant Health was a reportable segment in prior years, these amounts are disclosed for comparability purposes. In addition, Assurant Employee Benefits was a separate reportable segment in 2016 and primarily includes the results of operations for the periods prior to its sale on March 1, 2016.
Global Housing net income decreased $119,039, or 39%, to $188,666 for Twelve Months 2016 from $307,705 for Twelve Months 2015. The decrease is primarily due to an $83,060 (after-tax) increase in reportable catastrophe losses and the ongoing declines in our lender-placed homeowners insurance business, including a decline in real-estate owned business and the previously disclosed loss of client business. This decline was partially offset by savings realized from expense initiatives.
For 2017, we anticipate Global Housing net income, excluding catastrophe losses, and net earned premiums, fees and other income to decline compared with 2016 as our lender-placed insurance business moves closer to a normalized, steady state. We also expect revenue growth in our multi-family housing and mortgage solutions businesses to continue and overall, we believe these offerings will account for a larger portion of this segment’s earnings as we expand market share. Additional expense savings from initiatives implemented across Global Housing are also expected.
Our results depend on the appropriateness of our product pricing, underwriting and the accuracy of our methodology for the establishment of reserves for future policyholder benefits and claims, returns on and values of invested assets, our ability to manage our expenses and achieve expense savings and catastrophe losses. Our results will also depend on our ability to profitably grow our fee-based, capital-light businesses, including global connected living, multi-family housing, mortgage solutions, as well as vehicle protection services, and manage the pace of declines in placement rates in our lender-placed business. Factors affecting these items, including conditions in financial markets, the global economy and the markets in which we operate, and fluctuations in the exchange rate, may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. For more information on these factors, see “Item 1A - Risk Factors.”
For Twelve Months 2016, 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 $124,238; net cash provided by investing activities totaled $725,621 and net cash used in financing activities totaled $1,106,193. We had $1,031,971 in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2016. 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
Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act introduced new and significant premium stabilization programs. These programs, discussed in further detail below, were 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 the Department of Health and Human Services ("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, and estimated reinsurance recoveries are established as reinsurance recoverables with an offsetting reduction in policyholder benefits. Reinsurance fee contributions for non-Affordable Care Act business are reported in underwriting, general and administrative expenses.
A permanent risk adjustment program transfers funds from insurers with lower risk populations to insurers with higher risk populations based on the relative risk scores of participants in Affordable Care Act plans in the individual and small group markets, both on and off the public marketplaces. Based on the risk of its members compared to the total risk of all members in the same state and market, considering data obtained from industry studies, the Company estimates its year-to-date risk adjustment transfer amount. The Company records a risk adjustment transfer receivable (payable) in premiums and accounts receivable (unearned premiums), with an offsetting adjustment to net earned premiums.
A three-year (2014-2016) risk corridor program limits insurer gains and losses by comparing allowable medical costs to a target amount as defined by HHS. This program applies to a subset of Affordable Care Act eligible individual and small group products certified as Qualified Health Plans. The public marketplace can only sell Qualified Health Plans. In addition, carriers who sell Qualified Health Plans on the public marketplace can also sell them off the public marketplace. Variances from the target amount exceeding certain thresholds may result in amounts due to or due from HHS. During 2015, the Company participated in the Federal insurance public marketplace for several states so the risk corridor program is applicable. However, as the funding status for this program is in significant doubt since amounts under the prior year program would need to be funded first and there appear to be insufficient funds available, a full allowance was established against recorded receivable amounts from this program for 2015. The Company did not participate in the risk corridor program for 2016 given the wind down of the business.
Reserves are established in accordance with GAAP using generally accepted actuarial methods and reflect judgments about expected future claim payments. Calculations incorporate assumptions about the incidence of incurred claims, the extent to which all claims have been reported, reporting lags, expenses, inflation rates, future investment earnings, and other relevant factors. While the methods of making such estimates and establishing the related liabilities are periodically reviewed and updated, the estimation of reserves is not an exact process given that management is using historical information and methods to help project future events and reserve outcomes.
The following table provides reserve information for our reporting segment lines for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015:
The methods all involve aggregating paid and case-incurred loss data by accident quarter (or accident year) and accident age for each product grouping. As the data ages, development factors are calculated that measure emerging claim development patterns between reporting periods. By selecting loss development factors indicative of remaining development, known losses are projected to an ultimate incurred basis for each accident period. The underlying premise of the Chain Ladder method is that future claims development is best estimated using past claims development, whereas the Bornhuetter-Ferguson method employs a combination of past claims development and prior estimates of ultimate losses based on an expected loss ratio. The Munich Chain Ladder method takes into account the correlations between paid and incurred development in projecting future development factors, and is typically more applicable to products experiencing more variability in incurred to paid ratios.
Each of these methods applied to the data groupings produces an estimate of the loss reserves for the product grouping. The best estimate is generally selected from a blend of the different methods. The IBNR associated with the best estimate is then allocated to accident year based on a weighting of the underlying actuarial methods. The determination of the best estimate is based on many factors, including but not limited to:
When employing the reserving methods, consideration is given to contractual requirements, historical utilization trends and payment patterns, coverage changes, seasonality, product mix, legislative and regulatory environment, economic factors, natural catastrophes, and other relevant factors. The Company consistently applies reserving principles and methodologies from year to year, while also giving due consideration to the potential variability of these factors.
While management has used its best judgment in establishing its estimate of required reserves, different assumptions and variables could lead to significantly different reserve estimates. Two key measures of loss activity are loss frequency, which is a measure of the number of claims per unit of insured exposure, and loss severity, which is a measure of the average size of claims. Factors affecting loss frequency include the effectiveness of loss controls, changes in economic activity and weather patterns. Factors affecting loss severity include changes in policy limits, retentions, rate of inflation and judicial interpretations.
Represents the sum of the case reserves and incurred but not reported reserves as of December 31, 2016 for Global Housing and Global Lifestyle.
The Company has exposure to asbestos, environmental and other general liability claims arising from our participation in various reinsurance pools from 1971 through 1985. This exposure arose from a contract that we discontinued writing many years ago. We carry case reserves, as recommended by the various pool managers, and IBNR reserves totaling $30,161 (before reinsurance) and $25,092 (net of reinsurance) at December 31, 2016. Estimation of these liabilities is subject to greater than normal variation and uncertainty due to the general lack of sufficiently detailed data, reporting delays and absence of a generally accepted actuarial methodology for those exposures. There are significant unresolved industry legal issues, including such items as whether coverage exists and what constitutes a claim. In addition, the determination of ultimate damages and the final allocation of losses to financially responsible parties are highly uncertain. Based on information currently available, and after consideration of the reserves reflected in the Consolidated Financial Statements, we do not believe or expect that changes in reserve estimates for these claims are likely to be material.
For preneed life insurance issued prior to 2009, reserve assumptions are made with provision for adverse deviation. Interest and discount rates are based upon investment returns of the assets acquired to support the business. Expected mortality rates, lapse rates, and future death benefit increases are based upon pricing assumptions.
Only direct incremental costs associated with the successful acquisition of new or renewal insurance contracts are deferred, to the extent that such costs are deemed recoverable from future premiums or gross profits. Acquisition costs primarily consist of commissions and premium taxes. Certain direct response advertising expenses are deferred when the primary purpose of the advertising is to elicit sales to customers who can be shown to have specifically responded to the advertising and the direct response advertising results in probable future benefits.
Premium deficiency testing is performed annually and generally reviewed quarterly. Such testing involves the use of best estimate assumptions including the anticipation of investment income to determine if anticipated future policy premiums are adequate to recover all DAC and related claims, benefits and expenses. To the extent a premium deficiency exists, it is recognized immediately by a charge to expense and a corresponding reduction in DAC. If the premium deficiency is greater than unamortized DAC, a liability is accrued for the excess deficiency.
We have used reinsurance to exit certain businesses, including Assurant Employee Benefits business and blocks of individual life, annuity, and long-term care business. The reinsurance recoverables relating to these dispositions amounted to $6,294,991 and $4,607,056 at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
We utilize reinsurance for loss protection and capital management, business dispositions and, in Global Lifestyle and Global Housing, client risk and profit sharing. See also “Item 1A - Risk Factors - Reinsurance may not be available or adequate to protect us against losses, and we are subject to the credit risk of reinsurers,” and “
The Consolidated Financial Statements and Financial Statement Schedules in Part IV, Item 15(a) 1 and 2 of this Report are incorporated by reference into this Item 8.