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An insurance agent sells a policy which has a $100 de- ducible and a $5000 cap. This means that when the policy holder files a claim, the policy holder must pay the first $100. After the first $100, the insurance company pays the rest of the claim up to a maximum payment of $5000. Any excess must be paid by the policy holder. Suppose that the dollar amount X of a claim has a continuous distribution with p.d.f. f(x)=1/(1+x)² for x >0 and 0 otherwise. Let γ be the amount that the insurance company has to pay on the claim.

Write Y as a function of X. i.e., γ =r(X)

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The function γ(X) represents the amount paid by the insurance company, which is $0 if X ≤ $100, X - $100 if $100 < X ≤ $5100, and $5000 if X > $5100, reflecting the policy's deductible and cap.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student has asked to understand how to express γ (the amount the insurance company has to pay on a claim) as a function of X (the dollar amount of a claim), given a policy with a $100 deductible and a $5000 cap. This situation involves applying concepts regarding insurance policies such as deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance.

Let X represent the total dollar amount of an insurance claim. To express the amount γ that the insurance company will pay as a function of X, we consider the deductible and the cap:

If X ≤ $100, then γ = $0 because the policyholder pays the entire claim out-of-pocket due to the deductible.If $100 < X ≤ $5100, then γ = X - $100, because the insurance company starts to pay after the deductible is accounted for, up to the cap.If X > $5100, then γ = $5000, because the insurance company will not pay more than the cap.

  • Therefore, the function that represents the amount γ paid by the insurance company in terms of the claim amount X can be described as:

γ(X) =

$0 if X ≤ $100

X - $100 if $100 < X ≤ $5100 $5000 if X > $5100

This example illustrates how deductibles and caps can mitigate moral hazard by requiring the insured to share in the cost of a loss, thus promoting responsible behavior.

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