Reinsurance

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Reinsurance Disclosures [Abstract]

Reinsurance

Reinsurance

The Company reinsures a portion of its insurance exposures in order to reduce its net liability on individual risks and catastrophe losses. Reinsurance coverage and retentions vary depending on the line of business, location of the risk and nature of loss. The Company’s reinsurance purchases include the following: property reinsurance treaties that reduce exposure to large individual property losses and catastrophe events; casualty reinsurance treaties that reduce its exposure to large individual casualty losses, workers’ compensation catastrophe losses and casualty losses involving multiple claimants or insureds; and facultative reinsurance that reduces exposure on individual policies or risks for losses that exceed treaty reinsurance capacity. Depending on the operating unit, the Company purchases specific additional reinsurance to supplement the above programs.

The following is a summary of reinsurance financial information:

(In thousands)	2013			2012			2011
Written premiums:
Direct	$	5,626,172		$	4,964,069		$	4,370,092
Assumed	884,919			815,810			707,221
Ceded	(1,010,918		)	(881,340		)	(719,945		)
Total net written premiums	$	5,500,173		$	4,898,539		$	4,357,368
Earned premiums:
Direct	$	5,328,955		$	4,723,882		$	4,164,277
Assumed	857,119			770,981			669,593
Ceded	(959,537		)	(821,347		)	(673,003		)
Total net earned premiums	$	5,226,537		$	4,673,516		$	4,160,867
Ceded losses incurred	$	556,108		$	528,018		$	458,249

The Company reinsures a portion of its exposures principally to reduce its net liability on individual risks and to protect against catastrophic losses. Estimated amounts due from reinsurers are reported net of reserves for uncollectible reinsurance of $1,385,000, $1,680,000 and $3,169,000 as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The following table presents the amounts due from reinsurers as of December 31, 2013:

(In thousands)
Munich Re	$	193,405
Lloyd’s of London	117,059
Swiss Re	104,096
Alleghany Group	96,348
Partner Re	67,116
Axis Capital	65,580
Berkshire Hathaway	53,118
Ace Group	46,413
Hannover Re Group	35,607
Everest Re	29,253
Arch Capital Group	25,782
Other reinsurers less than $20,000	230,825
Subtotal	1,064,602
Residual market pools	468,501
Total	$	1,533,103