Description: Article from The Actuary, May 1985 – Volume No. 19, Issue No. 5 that discusses the current financial status of Social Security.

Description: This is a discussion of the paper, The Dip in Mortality in the Twenties of Age, by Walter G. Bowerman published in the June, 1953 issue of the Transactions of the Society of Actuaries.

Description: In 1938 and 1941, tax rulings were issued that Social Security benefits were not subject to income tax. This was done largely on the grounds that they are governmental gratuities probably based on the fact that the benefits and the taxes financing them were in different titles of the Social Security Act. Periodically over the years, proposals were made to include the benefits in taxable income in the same manner as private pensions.

Description: Senate Resolution 350, June 26, 1974, provided for an expert, independent analysis of the actuarial status of the social security system, to be made for the Senate Committee on Finance. Robert Myers provides comments on this report and finds it an excellent example of how an actuarial report should be presented to the public.

Description: This paper briefly outlines the methodology involved in the preparation of the national life tables for 1959-61. Then an analysis is made of past mortality trends and current mortality differentials by age, sex, and race.

Description: Argues that the budget for the Social Security program should not be 'unified'with the rest of the federal budget in evaluating the federal deficit.

Description: The author demonstrates the error in valuing a life annuity by using the amount of an annuity-certain for a period equal to the expectation of life.

Description: This article contains reviews of the following books: 1. 'Fundamental Mathematics of Life Insurance' by Floyd S. Harper and Lewis C. Workman, 2. 'Mathematics of Compound Interest' by Marjorie V. Butcher and Cecil J. Nesbitt, 3.'Compound Interest and Annuities-Certain' by D. W. A. Donald, 4. 'Demography' by P. R. Cox, 5. 'The Spirit and the Uses of the Mathematical Sciences' edited by Thomas L. Saaty and F. Joachim Weyl, 6. 'Ethics, Morality, and Insurance' by John D. Long, 7. Reports of the 1971 Advisory Council on Social Security, 8. 'Medical Care at Public Expense' by Mark V. Pauly 9. 'Eleventh Actuarial Valuation of the Assets and Liabilities under the Railroad Retirement Acts as of December 31, 1968, with Technical Supplement' by the Railroad Retirement Board, 10. 'Nouvelles tables-types de mortalité' by Sully Ledermann, 11. 'A Table of Expected Working Life for Men, 1968' by Howard W. Fullerton, 12. 'Disability-Determination and Evaluation' by Henry H. Kessler, 13. 'Industrial Safety Statistics: A Re-examination' by Jerome B. Gordon, Allan Akman, and Michael L. Brooks, 14. 'Pensions and Severance Pay for Displaced Defense Workers' by Hugh Folk and PauI Hartman, 15. 'Trends and Variations in Fertility in the United States' by Clyde V. Kiser, Wilson H. Grabill, and Arthur A. Campbell, 16. 'Benefit Plans in Junior Colleges' by Francis P. King, 17. 'The Consumer's Guide to Insurance Buying' by Vladimir P. Chernik, and 18. 'Private Pension Scheme Finance' by Sylvia and Leslie Tutt. Notices of other studies and articles are also included. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1971, Vol. 23, Pt. 1, No. 67.

Description: An article that takes a look at the actuaries original estimates for Medicare's hospital insurance program relative to actual figures.

Description: The paper reviews the demographic shifts, including improved life expectancy and the baby-boom/baby-bust cycle, of the past half-century and discusses their impact on the funding of pay-as-you-go paygo social security systems. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1995, Vol. 47.