Description: There are growing concerns that the Asian bird flu virus will evolve into a form that can be transmitted from human to human, thus unleashing a new global flu pandemic. This article uses the Spanish flu epidemic and the German life insurance portfolio to analyze the additional claims expenditure due to a pandemic.

Description: This article notes the available pulications from Hank George, an underwriting expert, that will help keep you up to date on the subject.

Description: This is a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the SOA Research Institute (SOARI) seeking research studies related to anxiety, depression, and their impact on mortality in the United States.

Description: This project models and forecasts premature cardiovascular mortality, with a focus on two main risk factors - obesity status and education attainment level. It investigates the role of obesity and education in determining age-sex-specific premature cardiovascular mortality.

Description: This is an Excel workbook that can be used as a tool for health insurance companies to model their potential risk exposure from an influenza pandemic. It is based on a model developed for a Society of Actuaries study examining the potential implications of a pandemic on the U.S. health insurance industry. The spreadsheet is saved with many of the same assumptions used in this research and reproduces the results of the exhibits contained in the June 2010 report, 'Potential Impact of Pandemic Influenza on the U.S. Health Insurance Industry.'

Description: Predicting mortality (or longevity) and measuring the associated risk are the keys to the success of insurance business. Underwriting has been used for years for this purpose and approved effective. Currently, underwriting has been focusing on human physical conditions such as BMI, blood sample, medical history, and others, as well as severe mental diseases; occasionally, there are mental health assessments such as mental illness or cognitive testing that have been used in underwriting Life or Long-Term Care (LTC) business.

Description: This report is a comprehensive survey of existing literature on mortality and race and ethnicity in the United States, examining disparities in mortality rates among different racial and ethnic groups. It explores factors influencing mortality differentials, including socioeconomic status, health care access, and other relevant aspects.

Description: This article is about pet insurance. In the past two years, the major U.S. pet insurer has doubled the number of policies in force to 75,000, while many thousands of other cats and dogs are insured by regional HMOs formed by veterinarians.

Description: The SOA is releasing this brief report which summarizes the results of the latest National Health Expenditure (NHE) data released by the U.S. Government. This report highlights some of the key elements of the 2018 NHE data and compares them to prior year data and projections.

Description: This section contains book reviews and summaries of recently published works on subjects including demography, savings in the U.S., life company state examinations, private pensions, Industrial insurance, medical care, and union welfare plans.