The total number of contacts with a physician experienced by the health insurer’s members who are not confined to a health care facility.

The total number of contacts with medical personnel (not a physician) experienced by the health insurer’s members who are not confined to a health care facility.

The company's phone number.

A measure of insurance risk based on the relationship of net premiums to capital resources.

A class of ownership in a corporation that has a higher claim on its assets and earnings than common stock. Preferred stock holders usually get a dividend paid to them before common stock holders (see Common Stock), but they usually do not have the voting rights.

The risk that, for a particular group of policies, premiums will not be sufficient to meet the level of claims and related expenses.

The ratio of net premiums written as a percentage of the company’s capital and surplus level. This ratio, calculated from the company’s annual report, answers the question: For every dollar of capital and surplus, how many dollars of premium does the company take in? Results of over 300 percent are considered perilous and could indicate that the insurer does not have adequate capital to support the volume of business that it is underwriting. A large figure could also help explain why a company has poor results on its risk-adjusted capital tests.

The major types of policies written by an insurer. Lines of business written by property and casualty insurers include personal and commercial insurance lines such as homeowners’, auto, workers’ compensation, commercial multiple peril, medical malpractice and product liability, among others.

Lines of business written by life, health and annuity insurers are individual life, individual health, individual annuities, group life, group health, group retirement contracts, credit life, credit health and reinsurance.

Lines of business for health insurers include comprehensive medical, medical only, Medicare supplemental, administrative service contracts, point of service, dental, vision, stop-loss, long term care, disability, Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), Medicare, and Medicaid.

A Weiss index that measures the soundness of the institution’s operations and the contribution of profits to the company’s financial strength. It is based on five sub-factors: 1) gain or loss on operations; 2) rates of return on assets and equity; 3) management of net interest margin; 4) generation of noninterest-based revenues; and 5) overhead expense management.

Mortgages written by an insurance company to facilitate the sale of property owned by the company.