Description: When we put together a newsletter for you, we submit all of the content about two months in advance of the publication date. I'm writing this editor's note on July 5th. I'm thinking forward and wondering what the rest of the summer will bring to us. What will have happened between July 5th and September 5th? From News Direct, September 2006, Number 54.

Description: The Society is taking a hard look at its members’ needs and our future as a profession. Two recent studies have focused attention on the building of our future: Report of the Task Force on the Future of the Actuary and Report of the Task Force on Strengthening the Profession. Both reports discuss the importance of our profession in health care matters. But, neither report is designed to address the practical issues involved with building toward our future in health care.

Description: The American Academy of Actuaries is engaged in several projects that proactively examine the future status of the Medicare Program. This session presents the findings that have resulted from these efforts. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 2.

Description: In this article, the author discusses the Georgia Uninsured Working Group and their recommendations on solutions for the uninsured in Georgia through new HRA/HSA laws. Issue No. 59

Description: Summary of the 1974 report of the HIAA Prevailing Health Care Charges System which contains data from about 900,000 charges for up to 1,600 different surgical procedures, summarized for 250 geographical areas. From The Actuary Vol. 9, No. 7

Description: Last March, Congress passed and the President signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act followed by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which amended the former collectively, the “Act”. The article provides a brief background on the passage of the Act generally and the creation of the new Investment Income Tax in particular compares the existing provisions of the HI tax with the newly enacted provisions, and it then analyzes the import of the Investment Income Tax for annuities and, possibly, life insurance contracts. The article concludes with thoughts on the potential effect of the new tax on the annuity marketplace.

Description: This article from The Actuary, November 1996, Volume 30, No. 9 announces the new North American Actuarial Journal. Articles in the first issue run the gamut of current issues faced by practitioners - retirement income models, use of financial derivatives by insurers, application of stochastic models for continuing care communities, and statistical independence and fractional age assumptions.

Description: ASOP No. 6 Exposure Draft Provisions Relating to Community- Rated HMO Contracts. Discusses determination of initial per capita health care rates, effect on valuation results, accounting standards, potential conflicts with FAS 106 and source of problems. Issue No. 42.

Description: In the absence of good research and analysis, decisions are made on the basis of intuition, unexamined assumption, and fixed ideas. This is the 'I believe…' approach to decision-making. The less information that individuals have, the more likely they are to rely on belief rather than evidence. This keynote address from the 43rd Actuarial Research Conference held in 2008 in Regina, Saskatchewan discusses the importance of research in health care reform, talks about the difference between pure and applied research, and explains what separates good applied research from poor research. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 2009, Vol. 1.

Description: This is an editorial about direct marketing, credit insurance and non-traditional product management. From News Direct, May 2006, Number 53.