Description: Traditional discounting is hazardous to corporate health unless, as this paper demonstrates, it is turned on its head and insurance managers adopt the methods of prudent bankers. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1987, Vol. 39.

Description: This paper, first published in 1982 in the Transactions of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 34, discusses the phenomenon of durational antiselection, a commonly observed steady and seemingly irreversible increase in loss ratios on mature blocks of individual health insurance policies. The author, William F. Bluhm, constructs a model to explain the deterioration of loss ratios over time, and to quantify the cumulative antiselection effect. This paper was awarded the 1980-82 Triennial Prize. The paper includes written discussion and the author’s review of discussion.