Description: Article discussing the risk focused exam approach incorporated in the Financial Condition Examiners Handbook.

Description: Update on regulatory developments in the US and internationally

Description: A Mexican actuary discusses his career, the challenges of different insurance markets in different cultures, the value of sharing knowledge across countries and across professions, and the latest public policy regarding solvency models.

Description: Part one of a two part series explores implementation issues for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 MHPAEA.

Description: A proposal to reform the health care provider payment system through: a national fee schedule, shifting more reimbursements to primary care providers, better integration of hospital & physician fees, evidence based care, pay for performance, and a better provider risk sharing mechanism.

Description: Introduction to population health, a collaborative discipline that seeks to leverage all the determinants of health personal behaviors, medical care and the public health infrastructure, as well as the social and economic context at the community and national level to maximize the health of populations.

Description: Update on Health Section research projects and topics, including new vision and mission statements for the Health Section Council, research and communications projects, and information about the Health Actuarial Research Initiative.

Description: The Required Minimum Distribution [RMD] working group of the Taxation Section has completed research in determining the actuarial present value of additional benefits for computing RMD under deferred annuity contracts. This is Appendix H spreadsheet for persistency bonus calculations for this research project. Please see teh SOA website research section for the complete report and excel spreadsheets for other appendices.

Description: In the course of consulting engagements, actuaries almost always find they need one or more of the following resources: -Healthcare data, which may be at the individual patient level or on a particular population. -Health services research studies which describe, summarize, try to alter, or predict patients’ use of health resources. -Health policy information, which describe public or private actions which affect the access, cost and quality of medical care. This document describes the ever-changing resources and specifies where they may be obtained.