As a group, reinsurers assuming business in the United States reported a smaller drop in premiums and a better overall combined ratio in 2006 than in 2005, according to National Underwriter's annual analysis of market results.

With an overall combined ratio of 95.7 for 121 companies that qualify as reinsurers under a broad definition that NU used for this analysis (see accompanying explanation), the result is only three points worse than the 92.4 combined ratio posted by the entire property-casualty insurance industry last year.

The overall reinsurer combined ratio, however, benefited from the inclusion of Berkshire Hathaway's National Indemnity, which ranked as the largest reinsurer in 2006 and posted an unusually favorable combined ratio in comparison to other large reinsurers.

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