Description: The editorial illustrates public finance issues, focusing on the themes of Social Security and Medicare Advantage plans that are highlighted in this issue.

Description: Feature article from the January 2010 issue of In The Public Interest discussing problems with funding of public programs.

Description: An examination of LTCI rate increases from three different perspectives: the insurance company, the policyholder, and the insurance department.

Description: Updates on the efforts of the Academy’s health practice council. its work groups and task forces, to educate health care policymakers on issues including health care reform, Medicare, loss ratios, premium review, reinsurance, benefit and eligibility changes, exchanges, and risk based capital.

Description: Discussion about career events for an actuary working on health care reform

Description: Article from The Actuary, May 1971 – volume 5 - Issue 5 is an extract from a recently discovered Dead Sea Scroll regarding language to be included in a prospectus to provide potential investors with an adequate basis for judging the offering.

Description: Remarks on a recent series of articles in 'The National Underwriter' on risk selection and related regulation.

Description: A proposal to reform current health care market, from a 'preferred payer' system, in which Medicare and Medicaid pay less than the true cost while others must then pay more, to a 'value for money' system. This would be achieved by requiring providers to bill all patients the same rate for the same services, with a standard bundling format to make all providers' rate differences transparent. Differences between billed charges and what Medicare pays would be made up by the Medicare patient, rather than subsidized by those outside of Medicare.

Description: A proposal to address provider payment issues by gradually moving to accountable care organizations. Capitations would be risk-adjusted, non-capitated costs would be covered by hospitalization fund and stoploss, incentives for quality & effective preventive care would be tied to the amount remaining in the fund, and government involvement would be through incentives rather than mandate.

Description: Feature article from the January 2010 issue of In The Public Interest discussing the need for actuarial leadership in the reform of the U.S. health care system.