Description: Social Insurance & Public Finance Section council members provide a recap of sessions from the 2021 SOA Health Meeting, with a focus on sessions covering Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA, and public policy. The authors include a description of SIPF Section-sponsored sections, including a session on the ACA and a session on CMS's Direct Contracting Model.

Description: This article discusses the court cases dealing with the severability of the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act. Severability is related to essentiality, and actuarial input was relied upon to determine essentiality. The article concludes with lessons that actuaries should learn from the legal proceedings.

Description: The article describes the insurance industry's preparation for pandemic events and the public finance response.

Description: This article provides an in-depth discussion of how subsidies are an integral part of affordability for individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and, ultimately, impact the viability of the market.

Description: Part II of a two-part series discussing individual market evolution from before the ACA through President Trump's first term.

Description: Part I of a two-part series concerning the evolution of the individual market. It begins with background, discusses present markets and 2018 regulations.

Description: The article discusses the sustainability of the ACA individual market from a public entitlement standpoint. A key point of measuring sustainability is the reliance on market forces rather than federal budget constraints. The article explains why an actuarial viewpoint of sustainability is necessary to a greater extent than other public assistance and social insurance programs. The article challenges actuaries to be a bold, objective voice in a space that is full of opinionated but often uninformed viewpoints.

Description: Letter from the chairperson of the Social Insurance and Public Finance Section outlining section goals for 2021.

Description: This interview article summarizes the work being done by a Health Section Strategic Initiative Committee.

Description: States can make ACA markets more attractive by enforcing compliance. Unlike other state opportunities, it doesn't cost anything. Pennsylvania made the change this year.