Description: The Society of Actuaries, the SOA Pension Section, the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and the American Society of Pension Actuaries are contributing funds in support of efforts to get the actuarial profession more involved in modeling that addresses national retirement income policy and health care reform. The first project will be a feasibility study to analyze each major existing database/model and investigate whether it would be practical to access it or to extend it into a new macrodemographic model.

Description: This article, an Honorable Mention Essay for the Society of Actuaries' Entrepreneurial Actuaries Section 2010 Papers Competition, is a discussion of the various issues relating to measurement of data in healthcare. The author presents “a light hearted & tongue-in-cheek take on how healthcare is typically measured, and an entrepreneurial vision for a better world.” Noting that typically data is summarized in deterministic models that produce point estimates for analysis and decision making, the author’s vision presented in the paper “is that of a central repository of actuarially modeled distributions that can either be used as benchmarks or adapted to an organization's experience.”

Description: The PPACA imposed a market share-based health insurance provider fee, known as the "Section 9010 Fee", "Health Insurer Fee", or simply the "HIF", on each “covered entity” with net premiums written in excess of $25 million that is engaged in the business of providing health insurance coverage for U.S. health risks. This article provides background information to help unpack the language behind the Section 9010 Fee and highlights a few areas of special interest including merger and acquisition-related issues, application of the Section 9010 fee to expatriate plans, and considerations regarding fee administration.

Description: Discussion of Ley 100/Law 100 in Colombia, which was ratified in 1993 and linked the government pension plan with a government-sponsored and controlled yet, privatized health plan.

Description: This article is focused on sustainability concerns in the ACA individual markets and what we can learn from core actuarial principles as discussed in ASOPs.

Description: Reviews the book, HMOs and the Politics of Health System Reform, by Joseph Falkson which discusses HMOs' legislative and regulatory structuring.

Description: Letter by Concerned Actuary Group, printed in the January 2010 issue of In The Public Interest, in response to August 6 Review and Outlook Section editorial titled “Obamacare’s Real Price Tag.”

Description: A discussion of fraud and abuse in the Medicare payment system, and steps to address these problems.

Description: This article is about individual insurance policy. HIPAA and COBRA allows someone who has lost access to employer-based insurance to purchase an individual insurance policy. HIPAA has been approval in 49 states. From The Actuary Vol. 31, No. 9

Description: This articles describes how actuaries can contribute to the understanding of the financing of Medicare and the urgency of its problems.