what is the morbidity rate 
morbidity rate refers to the rate at which a disease or illness occurs in a population this can be used to determine the health of a population and its health care needs illnesses can range from acute conditions to chronic long lasting conditions morbidity rates are also used in actuarial professions such as health insurance life insurance and long term care insurance to determine the premiums to charge customers this rate shouldn t be confused with the mortality rate another metric that highlights the frequency of death in a given population understanding morbidity rateaccording to the centers for disease control and prevention morbidity refers to any departure subjective or objective from a state of physiological or psychological well being 1 in simpler terms morbidity is the word used to describe the instance of a disease or illness including acute and chronic conditions an acute condition may be caused by a virus and doesn t last very long like a cold chronic conditions are more demanding on a population as they tend to be last longer cost more to treat and may need multiple layers of physical or mental health care they include such diseases as 2because morbidity rates measure the frequency at which illness and disease occur in a population they are used in various ways in the public and private sectors for instance governments may use morbidity rates and other health statistics to research health and health care this includes costs the success and failures of government programs and the quality of health care systems morbidity rates and insurancemorbidity rates are also helpful in many sectors of the financial sector for example insurance companies use morbidity rates to predict the likelihood that an insured will contract or develop certain diseases this helps them develop competitively priced insurance policies in the industry for health insurance life insurance and coverage for long term care the ability to accurately estimate morbidity rates for various diseases is helpful for insurers to set aside sufficient funds to cover benefits and claims for their customers this data is also used in part to establish prices for the premiums that the insurance companies charge other main factors in pricing premiums are mortality rates operating expenses investment returns and regulations for example many insurance companies base their pricing of group insurance products on an expected payout of benefits a company uses its assumptions for mortality morbidity interest expenses and persistence to price its products 