As we all know, insurance is a transfer of risk to another party. The risk is transferred most times because of financial considerations; the insured either cannot afford or does not want to take her chances that something catastrophic might happen, so she obtains an insurance policy in order to transfer the risk to a third party, the insurance carrier. There are a number of ways risk can be assumed.

The first is the deductible. A standard feature of any insurance policy, the deductible is selected by the insured and allows him to reduce his premium somewhat by agreeing to pay for part of any losses up front. When an insured selects a higher deductible, he is assuming part of the risk that he feels he can sustain on his own. Commercial insureds will use larger deductibles because they are larger operations and have more cash flow than your average personal insured.

The self-insured

Self-insurance is another mechanism of assuming a risk. Larger organizations may believe that with a risk manager on staff they can control risks sufficiently, so they choose not to purchase insurance and use available cash flow if a loss occurs.