Description: Discusses effect of allowing companies to sell health insurance policy in any state, if approved in one state, without requiring approval in any other state.

Description: Analysis of possible mathematical relationships between hospital quality and hospital billed or allowed charges or other measures, using quality data as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services along with the Hospital Quality Alliance for their Hospital Quality Initiative.

Description: A look at the career and accomplishments of Julia Philips, the only health actuary employed at the Minnesota Department of Commerce. She believes her learn-by-doing attitude has allowed her to build a career she enjoys, which includes her to work to promote consumer protection, volunteer with many organizations, and implement health reform.

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 principles for reform, Medicare, the individual insurance market, and risk factors.

Description: A summary of concerns about the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, including flaws in the underlying premises, opportunism, inadequate sales incentives, insufficient benefits, adverse selection, and cashflow and solvency issues.

Description: A comment letter to policymakers produced jointly by the SOA and AAA presents findings from their actuarial analysis of the proposed CLASS Act. The analysis indicates that the proposed structure and funding approaches will be unsustainable, and will cover only a very small proportion of the intended population. The opt-out and guaranteed issue provisions of the plan pose a risk that soon the program will either need increased premiums and/or significant reductions.

Description: Retirement income security under defined contribution plans depends upon sufficient savings and decumulating that savings so it provides an adequate income throughout retirement. Investment risk and longevity risk inherently complicate the latter task. The economic rationale for annuitization is clear in this context. However, annuitization rates have historically been very low, a phenomenon that is still not well understood. If retirees are making “rational” decisions based on full information, if their choices are consistent with the pursuit of their financial priorities, then low annuitization rates are not an issue for concern. In this case, retirees who annuitize and retirees who do not must have different financial priorities. However, research by the TIAA Institute shows that the decision to not annuitize is inconsistent with the stated financial priorities of most non-annuitants. It appears that non-annuitants do not und erstand that annuitization would address their financial priorities for retirement.

Description: To persuade successfully and non-manipulatively, it's important to understand five key principles of influence. Principle #5: A person will more likely be influenced if you help them get to the heart of the matter.

Description: From a panel discussion session at the 2002 Valuation Actuary Symposium, held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, September 19–20, 2002 Panelists discuss the embedded value process, including discount rate, uses for embedded value reporting and implementation issues. Also included a discussion of fair value accounting methodology.

Description: This article briefly describes my journey within the actuarial profession as a volunteer. IACA's initiatives in Africa are also discussed.