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Global Health Care Medical Costs Payable
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Global Health Benefits Segment [Member]  
Liability For Unpaid Claims And Claims Adjustment Expense [Line Items]  
Global Health Care Medical Costs Payable

Note 5 Global Health Care Medical Costs Payable

 

Medical costs payable for the Global Health Care segment reflects estimates of the ultimate cost of claims that have been incurred but not yet reported, those that have been reported but not yet paid (reported costs in process), and other medical expenses payable that are primarily comprised of accruals for incentives and other amounts payable to health care professionals and facilities, as follows:

 

 

(In millions)20152014
Incurred but not yet reported$ 1,757$ 1,777
Reported costs in process  470  288
Physician incentives and other medical care expense and services payable  128  115
Medical costs payable$ 2,355$ 2,180

Activity in medical costs payable was as follows:

 

(In millions)201520142013
Balance at January 1,$ 2,180$ 2,050$ 1,856
Less: Reinsurance and other amounts recoverable  252  194  242
Balance at January 1, net  1,928  1,856  1,614
Incurred costs related to:      
Current year  18,564  16,853  16,049
Prior years  (210)  (159)  (182)
Total incurred  18,354  16,694  15,867
Paid costs related to:      
Current year  16,588  14,966  14,267
Prior years  1,582  1,656  1,358
Total paid  18,170  16,622  15,625
       
Balance at December 31, net  2,112  1,928  1,856
Add: Reinsurance and other amounts recoverable  243  252  194
Balance at December 31, $ 2,355$ 2,180$ 2,050

Reinsurance and other amounts recoverable reflect amounts due from reinsurers and policyholders to cover incurred but not reported and pending claims for minimum premium products and certain ASO business where the right of offset does not exist.  See Note 7 for additional information on reinsurance. For the year ended December 31, 2015, actual experience differed from the Company's key assumptions resulting in favorable incurred costs related to prior years' medical costs payable of $210 million, or 1.3% of the current year incurred costs as reported for the year ended December 31, 2014. Actual completion factors accounted for $62 million, or 0.4%, while actual medical cost trend resulted in $115 million, or 0.7%. The remaining $33 million, or 0.2%, was primarily related to an increase in the 2014 reinsurance reimbursement rate from CMS under Health Care Reform.

 

For the year ended December 31, 2014, actual experience differed from the Company's key assumptions, resulting in favorable incurred costs related to prior years' medical costs payable of $159 million, or 1.0% of the current year incurred costs as reported for the year ended December 31, 2013.  Actual completion factors accounted for $61 million of favorability, or 0.4%, while actual medical cost trend resulted in the remaining $98 million, or 0.6%.

 

The impact of prior year development on shareholders' net income was $60 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 compared with $53 million for the year ended December 31, 2014. The favorable effect of prior year development for both years primarily reflects low utilization of medical services. Incurred costs related to prior years in the table above do not directly correspond to an increase or decrease to shareholders' net income. The primary reason for the difference is that decreases to prior year incurred costs pertaining to the portion of the liability established for moderately adverse conditions are not considered as impacting shareholders' net income if they are offset by increases in the current year provision for moderately adverse conditions. The determination of liabilities for Global Health Care medical costs payable requires the Company to make critical accounting estimates. See Note 2(N) for further information about the assumptions and estimates used to establish this liability.