Unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Schedule of liability for unpaid claims and claims adjustment expense

A reconciliation of the changes in claim liabilities, excluding liabilities under retroactive reinsurance contracts (see Note 14), for each of the three years ending December 31, 2017 is as follows (in millions).


	2017			2016			2015
Balances – beginning of year:
Gross liabilities	$	53,379		$	50,519		$	48,208
Reinsurance recoverable on unpaid losses		(3,338	)		(3,307	)		(3,116	)

Net liabilities		50,041			47,212			45,092

Incurred losses and loss adjustment expenses:
Current accident year events		37,702			30,636			27,829
Prior accident years’ events		(544	)		(1,523	)		(2,015	)
Discount accretion		—			80			82

Total incurred losses and loss adjustment expenses		37,158			29,193			25,896

Paid losses and loss adjustment expenses:
Current accident year events		(17,425	)		(14,898	)		(13,070	)
Prior accident years’ events		(12,507	)		(10,929	)		(10,229	)

Total payments		(29,932	)		(25,827	)		(23,299	)

Foreign currency translation adjustment		654			(537	)		(545	)
Business acquisition		—			—			68

Balances – end of year:
Net liabilities		57,921			50,041			47,212
Reinsurance recoverable on unpaid losses		3,201			3,338			3,307

Gross liabilities	$	61,122		$	53,379		$	50,519

Schedule of reconciliation of unpaid losses and allocated loss adjustment expenses to balance sheet liability

A reconciliation of certain net unpaid losses and allocated loss adjustment expenses (the latter referred to as “ALAE”) of GEICO, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group (“BHRG”, which includes the NICO Group and General Re Group) and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group (“BH Primary”) to our consolidated unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses as of December 31, 2017, along with a discussion regarding each group’s liability estimation processes, follows (in millions).


	GEICO		BHRG Property		BHRG Casualty		BH Primary		Total
Unpaid losses and ALAE, net	$	15,655	$	8,838	$	19,219	$	11,867	$	55,579
Reinsurance recoverable		859		289		1,028		1,025		3,201
Unpaid unallocated loss adjustment expenses										2,342

Unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses									$	61,122

Schedule of average historical claims duration

Supplemental unaudited average historical claims duration information based on the net losses and ALAE incurred and paid accident year data in the preceding tables follows. The percentages show the average portions of net losses and ALAE paid by each succeeding year, with year 1 representing the current accident year.


	Average Annual Percentage Payout of Incurred Losses by Age, Net of Reinsurance
In Years	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10
GEICO		61.9%		19.6%		8.1%		4.9%		2.8%
BHRG Property		18.7%		37.5%		18.8%		8.3%		4.5%		2.7%		1.6%		1.4%		0.3%		0.0%
BHRG Casualty		10.7%		18.4%		12.0%		8.3%		7.1%		5.0%		3.0%		2.0%		1.5%		1.8%
BH Primary		14.6%		17.7%		15.0%		12.5%		9.8%		7.3%		4.4%		2.7%		1.4%		1.7%

Insurance Group [Member] | GEICO [Member]

Schedule of incurred and paid losses and allocated loss adjustment expenses

GEICO’s aggregate incurred and paid loss and ALAE data by accident year for these claims, net of reinsurance, follows. IBNR and case development liabilities are as of December 31, 2017. Claim counts are established when accidents that may result in a liability are reported and are based on policy coverage. Each claim event may generate claims under multiple coverages, and thus may result in multiple counts. The “Cumulative Number of Reported Claims” includes the combined number of reported claims for all policy coverages and excludes projected IBNR claims. Dollars are in millions.


Accident Year	Incurred Losses and ALAE through December 31,										IBNR and Case Development Liabilities		Cumulative Number of Reported Claims (in thousands)
Accident Year	2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017		IBNR and Case Development Liabilities		Cumulative Number of Reported Claims (in thousands)
2013	$	13,085	$	12,900	$	12,943	$	12,920	$	12,961		$ 105		7,105
2014				14,680		14,572		14,559		14,589		236		7,972
2015						16,887		16,875		16,993		682		8,915
2016								19,106		19,390		1,806		9,601
2017										22,675		4,343		10,513

		Incurred losses and ALAE							$	86,608

Accident Year	Cumulative Paid Losses and ALAE through December 31,
Accident Year	2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017
2013	$	8,006	$	10,573	$	11,650	$	12,256	$	12,618
2014				9,199		12,036		13,140		13,850
2015						10,606		13,858		15,285
2016								12,020		15,862
2017										13,878

		Paid losses and ALAE								71,493

Net unpaid losses and ALAE for 2013 – 2017 accident years										15,115
Net unpaid losses and ALAE for accident years before 2013										540

Net unpaid losses and ALAE									$	15,655

* Unaudited supplemental information

Insurance Group [Member] | Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group [Member]

Schedule of incurred and paid losses and allocated loss adjustment expenses

BH Primary’s incurred and paid loss and ALAE data by accident year, net of reinsurance, is presented in the following tables. IBNR and case development liabilities are as of December 31, 2017. Dollars are in millions.


	Incurred Losses and ALAE through December 31,																				IBNR and Case Development Liabilities		Cumulative Number of Reported Claims (in thousands)
Accident Year	2008*		2009*		2010*		2011*		2012*		2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017		IBNR and Case Development Liabilities		Cumulative Number of Reported Claims (in thousands)
2008	$	1,573	$	1,503	$	1,448	$	1,369	$	1,250	$	1,182	$	1,135	$	1,103	$	1,073	$	1,063	$	69		71
2009				1,528		1,435		1,392		1,322		1,229		1,164		1,109		1,073		1,047		75		60
2010						1,516		1,437		1,378		1,321		1,234		1,163		1,119		1,068		107		61
2011								1,563		1,461		1,446		1,359		1,290		1,249		1,189		168		67
2012										1,710		1,675		1,631		1,559		1,518		1,423		250		79
2013												2,199		2,127		2,052		1,977		1,900		424		100
2014														2,906		2,737		2,687		2,580		736		138
2015																3,519		3,406		3,266		1,095		163
2016																		4,149		4,024		1,917		171
2017																				5,024		3,161		166

						Incurred losses and ALAE													$	22,584


	Cumulative Paid Losses and ALAE through December 31,
Accident Year	2008*		2009*		2010*		2011*		2012*		2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017
2008		$181		$369		$535		$676		$771		$852		$903		$932	$	950	$	968
2009				136		335		507		643		752		838		891		921		933
2010						153		366		522		661		768		846		889		916
2011								167		331		533		682		824		903		946
2012										165		444		642		820		956		1,049
2013												279		621		903		1,118		1,272
2014														387		833		1,192		1,504
2015																499		1,060		1,498
2016																		634		1,302
2017																				761

						Paid losses and ALAE														11,149

				Net unpaid losses and ALAE for 2008 – 2017 accident years																11,435
				Net unpaid losses and ALAE for accident years before 2008																432

				Net unpaid losses and ALAE															$	11,867

*	Unaudited supplemental information

Property [Member] | Insurance Group [Member] | Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group [Member]

Schedule of incurred and paid losses and allocated loss adjustment expenses

In the following tables, BHRG’s incurred and paid loss and ALAE data is separately presented for property and casualty coverage by accident year, net of reinsurance. IBNR and case development liabilities are as of December 31, 2017. Dollars are in millions.

BHRG Property


Accident Year	Incurred Losses and ALAE through December 31,																				IBNR and Case Development Liabilities
Accident Year	2008*		2009*		2010*		2011*		2012*		2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017		IBNR and Case Development Liabilities
2008	$	3,030	$	2,720	$	2,773	$	2,483	$	2,392	$	2,432	$	2,386	$	2,353		$2,344		$2,336		$ 6
2009				2,385		2,057		2,250		2,171		2,075		2,048		2,006		2,001		2,000		8
2010						2,545		2,538		2,424		2,289		2,200		2,164		2,146		2,126		32
2011								4,192		4,127		3,850		3,764		3,761		3,729		3,706		84
2012										3,153		2,851		2,645		2,404		2,351		2,347		95
2013												3,230		3,074		2,727		2,636		2,614		172
2014														2,646		2,458		2,344		2,199		223
2015																3,268		3,115		2,557		232
2016																		3,294		3,938		1,072
2017																				5,276		1,993

Incurred losses and ALAE																			$	29,099


Accident Year	Cumulative Paid Losses and ALAE through December 31,
Accident Year	2008*		2009*		2010*		2011*		2012*		2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017
2008		$ 481	$	1,449	$	1,825	$	2,055	$	2,159	$	2,205	$	2,240	$	2,296	$	2,307	$	2,308
2009				405		1,122		1,627		1,792		1,861		1,931		1,965		1,975		1,977
2010						339		1,081		1,520		1,789		1,950		2,007		2,054		2,079
2011								661		2,308		2,963		3,233		3,344		3,433		3,475
2012										265		1,232		1,813		1,952		2,041		2,116
2013												522		1,447		1,892		2,090		2,211
2014														467		1,259		1,591		1,731
2015																571		1,604		1,959
2016																		706		1,807
2017																				1,028

Paid losses and ALAE																				20,691

Net unpaid losses and ALAE for 2008 – 2017 accident years																				8,408
Net unpaid losses and ALAE for accident years before 2008																				430

Net unpaid losses and ALAE																			$	8,838

*	Unaudited supplemental information

Casualty [Member] | Insurance Group [Member] | Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group [Member]

Schedule of incurred and paid losses and allocated loss adjustment expenses

BHRG Casualty


Accident Year	Incurred Losses and ALAE through December 31,																				IBNR and Case Development Liabilities
Accident Year	2008*		2009*		2010*		2011*		2012*		2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017		IBNR and Case Development Liabilities
2008	$	2,448	$	2,602	$	2,279	$	2,358	$	2,309	$	2,161	$	2,101	$	2,042	$	2,009	$	2,010	$	226
2009				2,393		2,711		2,571		2,500		2,437		2,362		2,315		2,252		2,213		225
2010						2,320		2,413		2,345		2,282		2,162		2,111		2,066		1,903		166
2011								2,628		2,720		2,589		2,529		2,440		2,348		2,340		419
2012										2,811		2,995		2,829		2,892		2,819		2,705		663
2013												2,152		2,290		2,320		2,162		2,107		644
2014														1,891		2,090		2,059		2,021		736
2015																1,895		2,102		2,130		803
2016																		1,923		2,132		1,012
2017																				2,209		1,428

Incurred losses and ALAE																			$	21,770

Accident Year	Cumulative Paid Losses and ALAE through December 31,
Accident Year	2008*		2009*		2010*		2011*		2012*		2013*		2014*		2015*		2016*		2017
2008		$ 253		$664		$959		$ 1,067		$ 1,168		$ 1,250		$ 1,325		$ 1,367		$ 1,405	$	1,442
2009				249		858		947		1,219		1,439		1,596		1,632		1,669		1,695
2010						120		553		846		1,035		1,288		1,384		1,448		1,493
2011								293		822		1,167		1,409		1,498		1,591		1,670
2012										311		754		1,147		1,378		1,535		1,660
2013												293		527		814		943		1,048
2014														152		485		651		761
2015																198		497		722
2016																		254		561
2017																				232

Paid losses and ALAE																				11,284

				Net unpaid losses and ALAE for 2008 – 2017 accident years																10,486
				Net unpaid losses and ALAE for accident years before 2008																8,733

				Net unpaid losses and ALAE															$	19,219

*	Unaudited supplemental information