Description: Limitations in actual practice as a health care actuary due to lack of standards, lack of internal data, too much external data, lack of control. Issue No. 38.

Description: Statement that the SOA has formed a task force to address the morbidity tables used for minimum reserves of individual and group health insurance contracts. Issue No. 35.

Description: This article is an overview of preliminary research on HSAs and Account-Based Health Plans. The summary reviews enrollment, health status, premiums and account information. From Health Watch Newsletter, September 2006, Issue No. 53.

Description: The editor of HealthWatch addresses the readership on actuarial best practices and purpose of ASOPs. Issue No 60

Description: Identifying and submitting all appropriate ICD-9 diagnosis codes to CMS will result in a higher risk score for the member and increased payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Milliman's HCC prevalence study illustrates the significant variations in HCC prevalence rates by age/gender, geography, and population type and will assist plans in benchmarking the effectiveness of their own diagnosis code capture efforts.

Description: Our 13 risk theory seminars, to introduce Part 5A candidates to the new material were strongly supported, and, according to 109 questionnaires since received, were popular. Prevailing opinions were that these sessions boosted attendees confidence in their ability to continue studying on their own, and their chances of passing the exam. From The Actuary VOL. 16, No. 6

Description: This article is a summary of Darrell Laird's paper in T.A.S.A. 50, The Revenue of the Period of Account and Its Relation To Premiums, Valuation and Dividents. Mr. Laird saw 3 problems, 1 finding a comprehensive way to measure a life company's real performance, 2 displaying sale and administrative expenses revealingly to management and 3 distributing surplus equitably among holders of individual policies.

Description: This article explores compound and simple interest and the accumulation function for the case when time t is a noninteger value.

Description: This article describes the activities and results of an SOA Task Force on Expansion of Mortality and Morbidity Statistics which was formed to review the mortality and morbidity research undertaken and the statistics published outside the recognized actuarial organizations.

Description: This article describes activities of the Board of Governors to strengthen the role of research within the SOA. The Board actions include approving two additional professional staff positions for the Research Department and including $150,000 in a Research Development Fund to serve as seed money for research projects.