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)	2016			2015			2014
Written premiums:
Direct	$	6,647,600		$	6,412,533		$	6,185,242
Assumed	896,101			837,460			877,596
Ceded	(1,119,788		)	(1,060,478		)	(1,065,891		)
Total net written premiums	$	6,423,913		$	6,189,515		$	5,996,947

Earned premiums:
Direct	$	6,492,240		$	6,245,714		$	5,889,021
Assumed	900,570			845,735			886,063
Ceded	(1,099,462		)	(1,050,840		)	(1,030,666		)
Total net earned premiums	$	6,293,348		$	6,040,609		$	5,744,418

Ceded losses and loss expenses incurred	$	707,336		$	501,999		$	475,802
Ceded commission earned	$	201,957		$	173,288		$	160,215

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 $1,049,000, $1,020,000 and $1,144,000 as of December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

The following table presents the amounts due from reinsurers as of December 31, 2016:



(In thousands)
Alleghany Group	$	150,604
Munich Re	130,623
Swiss Re	120,906
Lloyd’s of London	118,607
Partner Re	74,948
Axis Capital	72,600
Everest Re	53,482
Hannover Re Group	52,472
Berkshire Hathaway	49,340
Chubb Limited	35,304
Korean Re	28,654
Validus	22,871
Arch Capital Group	21,359
Other reinsurers less than $20,000	246,160
Subtotal	1,177,930
Residual market pools	566,050
Total	$	1,743,980