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)	2017			2016			2015
Written premiums:
Direct	$	6,726,029		$	6,647,600		$	6,412,533
Assumed	750,934			896,101			837,460
Ceded	(1,216,455		)	(1,119,788		)	(1,060,478		)
Total net written premiums	$	6,260,508		$	6,423,913		$	6,189,515

Earned premiums:
Direct	$	6,661,046		$	6,492,240		$	6,245,714
Assumed	812,309			900,570			845,735
Ceded	(1,161,936		)	(1,099,462		)	(1,050,840		)
Total net earned premiums	$	6,311,419		$	6,293,348		$	6,040,609

Ceded losses and loss expenses incurred	$	601,769		$	707,336		$	501,999
Ceded commission earned	$	241,983		$	201,957		$	173,288

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 $1,010,000, $1,049,000 and $1,020,000 as of December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The following table presents the amounts due from reinsurers as of December 31, 2017:



(In thousands)
Munich Re	$	156,368
Lloyd’s of London	152,934
Alleghany Group	152,468
Swiss Re	129,369
Partner Re	87,491
Axis Capital	82,803
Hannover Re Group	64,011
Berkshire Hathaway	56,892
Everest Re	50,387
Korean Re	44,072
Chubb Limited	30,977
Renaissance Re	27,095
Liberty Mutual	22,629
Arch Capital Group	21,310
Other reinsurers less than $20,000	293,134
Subtotal	1,371,940
Residual market pools	411,260
Total	$	1,783,200