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Self-Administration
The procedure where an employer maintains all records regarding the employees covered under a group insurance plan.

Self-Employed Individual's Retirement Act
An act of the U.S. Congress, approved in 1962, permitting self-employed people and their employees to take advantage of tax benefits similar to those offered under tax-sheltered annuities and the qualified retirement plans of large organizations. It is also known as "H.R. 10" and the "Keogh Act".

Self-Insurance
A program for providing group insurance with benefits financed entirely through the internal means of the policyholder, in place of purchasing coverage from commercial carriers.

Senior Citizen Policies
Contracts insuring persons 65 years of age or over. In most cases these policies supplement the coverage afforded by the government under the Medicare program.

Short-Term Disability Income Insurance
The provision to pay benefits to a covered disabled person as long as he or she remains disabled up to a specified period not exceeding two years.

Sole Practitioner
One who is engaged in rendering professional accounting services alone with no other partners, CPAs, consultants, bookkeepers, or other professionals working on client engagements.

Special Risk Insurance
Coverage for risks or hazards of a special or unusual nature.

Split Limits of Liability - Professional Liability Insurance
Extended as an option to professional liability coverage under the Professional Liability Program, split limits provide professional liability coverage with a per claim limit of liability as well as a higher annual aggregate, or cumulative, limit. Split limits offer insured firms an affordable means to increase coverage and extend protection against multiple claims in the same policy year. With split limits of $100,000/$250,000, the policy will cover a single claim up to $100,000 and the cumulative amount of $250,000 for multiple claims.

Standard Insurance
Insurance written on the basis of regular morbidity underwriting assumption used by an insurance company and issued at normal rates.

Standard Provision
Those contract provisions generally required by state statutes until superceded by the uniform policy provision.

Standard Risk
A person who, according to a company's underwriting standards, is entitled to insurance protection without extra rating or special restrictions.

Step-Rating - Professional Liability Insurance
Typically, professional liability claims are made a number of years after the act or omission that caused the claim. The amount of time between when services are rendered and when a claim arises varies, depends upon the type of services provided. Consequently, with each successive year of claims-made coverage, the likelihood of experiencing a covered claim increases. To reflect this likelihood, insurance companies offer significantly lower policy premiums in the first year of coverage, and then gradually "step" the premium rate through yearly increases. The percentage of these increases and the number of years "stepped" varies among insurance carriers and policies. Once a claims made policy is considered "mature", that is, the premium no longer reflects a reduced risk because the incremental exposure resulting from additional years of coverage is assumed to be negligible (generally in the third through eighth years of continually maintained coverage), the insurance company will rate the policy at a steady level. It is important to note that step rating is not the only consideration in determining a firm's premium. Areas of practice, annual billings or revenues, the number of professionals, quality control procedures, claim history, as well as other factors are taken into consideration when assessing the risk and determining the appropriate premium.

Straight Life Insurance
Whole life insurance for which level premiums are payable for the lifetime of the insured.

Substandard Insurance
Insurance issued with an extra premium or special restriction to those persons who do not qualify for insurance at standard rates.

Substandard Risk
An individual, who, because of health history or physical limitations, does not measure up to the qualification of a standard risk.

Suicide Provision
A clause which excludes suicide as a specified risk for a specified period after policy issue.

Surgical Expense Insurance
Health insurance policies which provide benefits towards the physician's or surgeon's operating fees. Benefits may consist of scheduled amounts for each surgical procedure.

Surgical Schedule
A list of cash allowances attached to the policy, which are payable for various types of surgery, with a maximum amount based upon the severity of the operation.

This information should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion on any factual situation. This summary is for illustrative purposes and is not a contract. It is intended to provide a general overview, at the time first posted, of the topics described. Only the insurance policy can give actual terms, conditions and exclusions.



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