Table of Contents CITIZENS, INC. Claims and Surrenders.  A breakout of death claim and surrender benefits for the Life Insurance segment is detailed below. 78% of our claims and surrender benefits in 2020 and 73% in 2019 were related to payment of surrender benefits and matured endowment benefits. Policy surrenders increased 13.4% in 2020 as compared to 2019 and matured endowment benefits increased by 43.6% in 2020. These expenses have been increasing over the last several years, which is expected, due to the aging of this block of business - a significant portion of surrenders relates to policies that have been in force and have little to no associated surrender charges and endowment products reaching their stated maturities. These charges are within expected levels. The other key component of claims and surrender benefits is death claim benefits, which decreased 10.7% in 2020 compared to 2019. Mortality experience is closely monitored by the Company as a key performance indicator and these amounts were within expected levels. We operate in the Home Service Insurance market through our subsidiaries Security Plan Life Insurance Company ("SPLIC"), Magnolia Guaranty Life Insurance Company ("MGLIC") and Security Plan Fire Insurance Company ("SPFIC"), and focus on the life insurance needs of the middle- and lower- income markets, primarily in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Our policies are sold and serviced through a home service insurance marketing distribution system of 415 independent agents who work on a debit route system and through funeral homes that sell policies, collect premiums and service policyholders. Our Home Service Insurance products consist primarily of small face amount ordinary whole life and pre-need policies, which are designed to fund final expenses for the insured, primarily consisting of funeral and burial costs. To a much lesser extent, our Home Service Insurance segment sells limited-liability, named-peril property policies HOME SERVICE INSURANCE December 31, 2020 | 10-K 50 Years ended December 31, (In thousands) 2020 2019 2018 Claims and surrenders: Death claim benefits $ 5,990 6,710  5,880  Surrender benefits 52,218 46,062  38,187  Endowment benefits 11,016 12,233  13,329  Matured endowment benefits 20,965 14,601  8,548  Accident and health benefits 149 128  229  Other policy benefits 3,475 3,230  2,976  Total claims and surrenders $ 93,813 82,964  69,149 