Description: This paper discussed providing consumers of medical care with transparent and comparable price and quality information to enable them to make economically optimal decisions.

Description: This study was sponsored by the Society of Actuaries Health Section. This paper explores the relative significance of aging as a determinant of financial cost of health care beyond age 50, with particular attention to the effect for ages 65 and older. The paper presents concepts of aging factors and aging curves, which define relative values between ages for utilization or cost of health care services. General conclusions are drawn from Medicare data that utilization and cost differ by age, but that aging factors vary across services and may be less significant at very old ages. The author then turns to the question of measuring the significance of an aging curve assumption and what accuracy is lost in the simpler alternative of a single value across an age range.

Description: This project shows how to use agent-based models to simulate the behaviors of agents in complex health systems.

Description: This SOA report describes the components of margin for calculating capitation rates in a Medicaid context along with practical issues that MCOs may face.

Description: This 1981 session focused on cost containment programs for health care in Canada and the US. Topics included: 1. Possible changes - improved plan design 2. Ways to stimulate change - market forces vs. regulation 3. Untapped cost control-health education for employees - health lifestyles & disease prevention 4. Information sources From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 7, No. 2.

Description: Physicians and hospital representatives will discuss their views on health care reform, insurance companies and managed care. From Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 20, No. 3A.

Description: This session discusses affordable health care including cost drivers, trends, the uninsured, federal funding and state initiatives. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 29, No. 2, Session 109

Description: This session from the 2003 SOA Orlando Meeting presents various predictive models, evaluation methodologies, control groups, current and potential uses for predictive modeling and issues surrounding implementation of a predictive modeling process. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 29, No. 3.

Description: Health Care Cost Trends 2002 - prescription drug, base and leveraged trend. From Health Section News, January 2002, Issue No. 42.

Description: This article discusses Accountable Care Organizations, how they work, managing risks and their expectations to bend the cost curve.