Description: This session discussion is about the effect of changes in medical practices and technology, effect of cost shifting, measurement and analysis and employers' perspective. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 3A.

Description: This session discusses income replacement, or disability, policies. Topics include how they work, design alternatives, marketing, underwriting, regulation, past experience and future trends. From the Record of the SOA, Vol. 8 No 3

Description: Chapter 6 identifies four general and practical considerations in comparing methods: practicality and administrative cost, ability to restrict manipulation, timeliness and predictability, and incentives for efficiency and quality care. From A Comparative Analysis of Methods of Health Risk Assessment, M-HB96-1.

Description: Exploration of sources of volatility in retiree health valuations, noting how volatility arises and might be mitigated, with discussion of valuation parameters more problematic for retiree health benefits than for pensions. Three significant influences on retiree health valuation volatility are covered-- changes in benefit level, fluctuations in cost level, and alterations in eligibility for, or duration of, benefit – and attention focused on the last two. Specific conclusions result in recommendations, which are supported by practical examples contrasting volatile measurement results with those likely from the recommended practices. Theoretical discussion includes health claim variation, health trend usage, financial economics, option pricing, discount rates, and deterministic vs. stochastic modeling.

Description: This literature guide focuses on the distribution costs, especially the field compensation costs, that are incurred through the traditional general agency, branch office or brokerage structures for individual life, annuity and disability products.

Description: Influenza overview (virus types, health impacts, vaccination process/efficacy) and how actuaries can incorporate basic flu knowledge into their work.

Description: The primary purpose of this paper is to present an alternative method of determining the profitability of the premium for a return of premium benefit through the use of a limited simulation program. Also discussed are necessary reserves for a return of premium benefit. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1973, Vol. 25, Pt. 1, No. 73.

Description: Discusses: Types of medical expense insurance being offered and features, risk management, pricing, and methods of pre-funding retiree benefits.

Description: This discussion looks at: what period or combination of periods could reliably be used for valuation purposes, if the practice of applying the rate of disability to mixed lives in the construction of monetary tables is appropriate, and problems from the use of the assumed date at commencement of disability as contrasted with the use of the date at the end of the waiting period.

Description: This discussion seeks to answer what reserves are required for individual accident and sickness policies, looks at the actuary's responsibility for experience analysis, discusses product development and policy change problems, and examines the major current developments affecting individual accident and sickness insurance.