Description: Article presents new course readings that cover hot health topics that will expand actuarial expertise in the Health Systems practice area.

Description: Chairperson of the LTC Section reflects on his three-year term on the LTC Section Council.

Description: The Congressional Budget Office reports that out-of-pocket expenses accounted for 19 percent of the total long-term care LTC expenses in the United States in 2006, and private LTC insurance accounted for only 8 percent of these expenses, which shows that Americans are underinsured for LTC expenses. While it is true that public programs like Medicaid and Medicare cover much of the nation’s LTC expenses 68 percent of the total LTC expenses in the United States in 2006, eligibility for these programs comes at a great cost to the individual.

Description: Cognitive tests used in the long-term care insurance industry differ in cognitive domains tested, time required for testing, ease of test administration, sensitivity and specificity. Recently, new approaches to scoring or testing have improved test utility for screening for cognitive impairment.

Description: The Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screen MCAS is a brief cognitive screen that has been validated to correctly identify mild to moderate cognitive impairment in 98.1 percent of all cases. The MCAS has been in use in the LTCI industry for more than five years, and has shown excellent results in reducing early cognitive claims.

Description: Description of French long term care claim evaluation system

Description: A discussion about change. Change is constant and will continue—some of it predictable; some of it not. Knowledge is the best tool for understanding change, and this publication is a great forum for allowing the best and brightest to share.

Description: Description of Long Term Care programs in various European countries

Description: This excerpt is from a presentation done by a panelist at the Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance Conference Association closing session in Chicago in March. We can never fully express our thanks to the Alzheimer’s Association and Tom Doyle for the courage to share his moving story and optimism for the future.