Description: This article describes Medicare Supplement and short-term care products in more detail, and we compare their risk profiles. We explore the concept that these two products—when offered together—may provide a complementary hedge of certain policyholder behavior risks.

Description: Managed Care Risk-Based Capital new formula for HMOs and BCBS plans, modification of disability income, LTC and stop loss factors, market uses of RBC, company use of RBC Issue No. 37.

Description: This interview article summarizes the work being done by a Health Section Strategic Initiative Committee.

Description: Review of a research project, co-sponsored by the SOA, which examined 83 organizations and over 150 programs that measure the quality and efficiency of hospitals and physicians.

Description: This article contains a condensed summary and excerpt from the fourth white paper in the Commercial Health Care: What’s Next? series.

Description: Why health care inflation exceeds the Consumer Price Index CPI due to tax implications. Issue No. 37.

Description: How benchmarking actual performance to a published source is a useful tool in assessing the value added by a particular program or MCO, Issue No. 38.

Description: Gostin argues that there is indeed a crisis in American health care.

Description: Overview of public health (responsibilities, funding, challenges) and discussion of the role actuaries can play in achieving population health goals.

Description: A proposal to address provider payment issues by gradually moving to accountable care organizations. Capitations would be risk-adjusted, non-capitated costs would be covered by hospitalization fund and stoploss, incentives for quality & effective preventive care would be tied to the amount remaining in the fund, and government involvement would be through incentives rather than mandate.