Policy Claims and Benefits (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Insurance [Abstract]

Short-duration Insurance Contracts, Claims Development [Table Text Block]

U.S. and Latin America															As of
(in thousands)															December 31, 2018
Incurred Claims and Allocated Claim Adjustments, Net of Reinsurance (1)															Total of Incurred-but-Not-Reported Liabilities Plus Expected Development on Reported Claims
Accident Year	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2012		2013		2014		2015		2016		2017		2018
2012	$	322,579	$	309,119	$	297,037	$	298,262	$	299,098	$	297,688	$	296,717	$	—
2013			349,262		332,907		338,977		336,552		336,436		336,323		24
2014					407,953		411,373		396,383		397,151		396,010		272
2015							459,524		460,917		465,167		461,947		1,505
2016									500,843		499,785		500,725		4,885
2017											485,442		513,722		27,190
2018													538,456		234,548
											Total		$	3,043,900

Cumulative Paid Claims and Allocated Claim Adjustment Expense, Net of Reinsurance (1)
Accident Year	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2012		2013		2014		2015		2016		2017		2018
2012	$	109,323	$	222,139	$	243,890	$	252,018	$	258,297	$	263,565	$	268,073
2013			114,457		248,828		277,130		285,817		292,067		297,126
2014					128,813		304,578		337,081		349,078		356,026
2015							146,196		360,658		407,282		422,102
2016									184,940		392,517		436,892
2017											189,853		402,759
2018													182,560
											Total		$	2,365,538
					All outstanding claims prior to 2012, net of reinsurance								178,024
	Liabilities for claims and claim adjustment expense, net of reinsurance												$	856,386

(1) 2012-2017 Unaudited.

Asia Pacific															As of
(in thousands)															December 31, 2018
Incurred Claims and Allocated Claim Adjustments, Net of Reinsurance (1)															Total of Incurred-but-Not-Reported Liabilities Plus Expected Development on Reported Claims
Accident Year	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2012		2013		2014		2015		2016		2017		2018
2012	$	207,882	$	279,008	$	283,316	$	286,632	$	294,265	$	303,340	$	309,287	$	10,352
2013			292,769		313,126		303,779		301,168		314,283		328,017		16,728
2014					277,049		300,336		265,431		272,247		284,237		21,339
2015							278,491		257,146		251,650		267,292		32,392
2016									227,653		211,425		212,722		40,376
2017											216,499		214,707		63,383
2018													253,691		156,761
											Total		$	1,869,953

Cumulative Paid Claims and Allocated Claim Adjustment Expense, Net of Reinsurance (1)
Accident Year	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2012		2013		2014		2015		2016		2017		2018
2012	$	49,321	$	135,322	$	185,322	$	222,987	$	243,549	$	259,917	$	274,830
2013			49,805		144,247		209,347		235,923		261,299		282,961
2014					34,519		135,668		177,439		206,176		228,873
2015							48,962		118,579		167,350		202,273
2016									38,310		97,769		133,091
2017											35,442		87,037
2018													31,871
											Total		$	1,240,936
					All outstanding claims prior to 2012, net of reinsurance								112,373
			Liabilities for claims and claim adjustment expense, net of reinsurance										$	741,390

(1) 2012-2017 Unaudited.

Short-duration Insurance Contracts, Schedule of Historical Claims Duration [Table Text Block]

The following is unaudited supplementary information about average historical claims duration as of December 31, 2018:

Average Annual Payout of Incurred Claims by Age, Net of Reinsurance
Years	1		2		3		4		5		6		7
U.S. and Latin America	34.7	%	41.9	%	8.6	%	2.9	%	1.9	%	1.6	%	1.5	%
Asia Pacific	15.5	%	28.4	%	17.1	%	10.9	%	7.5	%	5.9	%	4.8	%

Short-duration Insurance Contracts, Reconciliation of Claims Development to Liability [Table Text Block]

The reconciliation of the net incurred and paid claims development tables to the liability for claims and claim adjustment expense in the consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2018 is as follows (dollars in thousands):

	2018
Liabilities for claims and claim adjustment expense, net of reinsurance:
U.S. and Latin America	$	856,386
Asia Pacific	741,390
Liabilities for claims and claim adjustment expense, net of reinsurance	1,597,776
Adjustments to reconcile to total policy claims and future policy benefits:
Reinsurance recoverable	16,121
Effect of discounting	(141,689		)
Unallocated claims adjustment expense	5,907
Total adjustments	(119,661		)
Other short-duration contracts:
Canada	128,831
Europe, Middle East and Africa	383,936
Other	177,416
Liability for unpaid claims and claim adjustment expense - short-duration	2,168,298
Liability for unpaid claims and claim adjustment expense - long-duration	4,416,370
Total liability for unpaid claims and claim adjustment expense (included in future policy benefits and other policy-related balances)	$	6,584,668

Schedule of Liability for Unpaid Claims and Claims Adjustment Expense [Table Text Block]

The liability for unpaid claims is reported in future policy benefits and other policy-related balances within the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. Activity associated with unpaid claims is summarized below (dollars in thousands):

	2018			2017			2016
Balance at beginning of year	$	5,896,469		$	5,180,802		$	4,977,836
Less: reinsurance recoverable	(455,547		)	(394,821		)	(405,583		)
Net balance at beginning of year	5,440,922			4,785,981			4,572,253
Incurred:
Current year	10,048,866			8,911,640			8,562,036
Prior years	131,181			14,364			(134,765		)
Total incurred	10,180,047			8,926,004			8,427,271
Payments:
Current year	(4,602,535		)	(4,513,606		)	(4,385,839		)
Prior years	(4,691,722		)	(4,004,038		)	(3,777,137		)
Total payments	(9,294,257		)	(8,517,644		)	(8,162,976		)
Other changes:
Interest accretion	24,802			19,443			18,151
Foreign exchange adjustments	(199,428		)	227,138			(68,718		)
Total other changes	(174,626		)	246,581			(50,567		)
Net balance at end of year	6,152,086			5,440,922			4,785,981
Plus: reinsurance recoverable	432,582			455,547			394,821
Balance at end of year	$	6,584,668		$	5,896,469		$	5,180,802