Description: This article is a review of the book “Social Security” by Robert J. Myers, published in 1975 by Richard D. Irwin, Inc. The reviewer calls the book a “marvelous reference source from which to draw in getting a fix on literally hundreds of the finer points relating to eligibility, the method of calculating benefits, in fact the whole background and evolution of these benefits and methods,” and notes the book will be of value to anyone who works with employee benefits that relate in some way to the Social Security system.

Description: On May 16th, the Social Security Boards of Trustees sent to the Congress the three annual reports OASDI, HI, and SMI. These reports present cost projections similar to those provided to the Congress last year at the time of enactment of the 1977 Amendments.

Description: The 1977 Amendments to the Social Security Act provided for a one-time National Commission on Social Security with broad mandate to study the OASDI and Medicare programs. The author discusses the substantial proposals put forth by the Commission in its report released in January 1981, which would affect both OASDI and Medicare.

Description: Social Security Disability Insurance DI experience in 1980 is continuing most recent trends, but changing somewhat in a few others.

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: Conditions and required solvency standards of federal waiver to PSOs to provide Medicare+Choice products. Effect on providers, beneficiaries and employers. Issue No. 36

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: Republicans have promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act for years. Now that they have power, what will Republican health care reform look like?

Description: Letter from Editor in the January 2010 issue of In The Public Interest in which the editor discusses the section’s first newsletter.

Description: Letter from the editor for the January 2013 publication.