Description: This is the table of contents for NewsDirect, January 2008, Issue No. 57.

Description: This is the table of contents for the News Direct newsletter, June 2007, Issue No. 56.

Description: The Mortality Improvement Survey Subcommittee of the Society's Committee on Life Insurance Mortality & Underwriting Surveys has completed its report on the results of a survey to examine mortality improvement practices with respect to life insurance pricing in both the US and Canada. A few questions were asked about functions other than pricing.

Description: This article covers measurement of key actions by presenting an approach to the analysis of direct-mail insurance solicitations.

Description: This article provides a contemporary perspective of direct-to-consumer, defines what it is, and offers several considerations for D2C strategies.

Description: This paper is a theoretical examination of the structure of the property-casualty insurance industry using economic theory to compare companies with agency distribution versus direct distribution. The purpose of the paper is to justify the existence of both types of distribution systems in equilibrium.

Description: From a panel discussion session at the Spring regional meeting of the Society of Actuaries held in Atlanta, Georgia, May 24-25, 1999 Panelists discuss two of the measurements actuaries are using to evaluate direct response products: customer lifetime value and embedded values.

Description: This article looks at the attitudes of insurance companies toward using technology for assisting in sales and marketing of insurance.

Description: Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a newer model of primary care delivery in which patients or employers pay for care directly on a membership basis; insurance and other third-party payment is not used. Early studies show significantly improved patient health outcomes and lower expenditures for DPC patients compared with similar patients receiving traditionally delivered primary care. Additional research is needed to better understand physician perspectives about the model and the role of patient selection in early results.In this session we discuss research projects that may shed light on the DPC model and on whether early results indicate more about the model or about the patients who use it.We discuss an SoA research project that interviews DPC physicians to better understand their views about the model and its early results. We also discuss a paper that analyzes characteristics of patients who receive primary care from a DPC physician and compares them to characteristics of patients who receive primary care in more traditional ways. This cross-sectional study surveys all adult patients of a convenience sample of several DPC practices. Variables include demographics, socio-economic status (SES), type of additional coverage (if any), whether DPC fees are paid by an employer, and self-reported health status. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey is the main source of comparison data. For a given cohort of demographics and additional coverage, we determine whether DPC patients have similar health status, demographics and SES as non-DPC patients. This study will provide insight into the degree of selection into DPC by observable patient characteristics.