Commitment and Lapse Behavior in Long-Term Insurance: A Case Study

This paper presents a case study of a portfolio of individual long-term insurance contracts sold by a Spanish mutual company. We describe the risk levels, the rating structure and the implied cross-subsidies on a portfolio of policies providing health, life and long-term care insurance. We show evidence of reclassification risk through the history of disability spells. We also analyze the lapse behavior and seek to provide a rationale for the portfolio's dynamics. Lastly, we draw conclusions regarding the design of such contracts.