Description: Critical illness insurance is a popular supplemental health insurance product in the U.S. market. This article discusses how carriers have recently sought to add value by expanded the benefits offered in their critical illness products. Specifically, the article discusses the consumer need and development considerations of adding benefits for autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental health disorders, Specified Disease Coverage, and enhance Cancer Coverage to a critical illness contract.

Description: The Society of Actuaries (“SOA”) Research Institute is the research arm of the SOA, providing objective, data-driven research that brings together tried and true practices and future-focused approaches to address societal challenges and business needs. The Institute provides trusted knowledge, extensive experience and new technologies to help effectively identify, predict and manage risks.

Description: What is the value of the health care we pay for? As medical inflation continues to outpace general inflation, this question is more important than ever. As actuaries, we are often called upon to evaluate the value of medical care. Are the ways the value equation is commonly constructed reflective of our aspirations as a society? What gravitational forces do we need to be aware of that perpetuate the status quo, mental biases and methodological pitfalls and how do we actively work to correct for them?

Description: Health insurance company assets and liabilities have evolved since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law in March 2010. The ACA fundamentally rearranged how commercial health insurance is funded by integrating federal premium subsidies and pass-throughs together with a marketplace interwoven with transfer payments among stakeholders. The impacts of these programs can be seen in specific accounting items on the balance sheets of health insurance companies over the past 10 years. Their emergence follows three primary trends: (1) balance sheet items tend to be larger and take longer to settle, (2) there are more interactions among items, and (3) the final settlement amounts are more uncertain.

Description: Lower costs doesn't necessarily help ACA markets. It often makes things worse.

Description: 1993 SOA Spring Meeting, San Diego. This session was about the Latin-American insurance market. Topics included: 1. Size, growth, regulations, products, distribution, marketing. 2. Market entry, business strategies, cultural issues, local staffing. 3. Level of activity for U.S. companies.

Description: This panel discussion addresses Critical Illness product design, marketing, trends and lessons learned from other countries. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 27, No. 2, Session 20

Description: While there are many approaches currently being taken to transform health care, to be successful, we know that leading and planning for quality improvement is a science. Data is the common denominator as healthcare organizations establish best-practices, and ultimately overcome unintended variation through strong analytic systems. Health care leaders require specialized data analysis education and training to hone their skills in understanding and managing clinical variation. The problem with unexplained variation in healthcare is that it negatively impacts clinical outcomes, increases the cost of care, and diminishes value for patients. In this session, Dr. Ted James (BIDMC and Harvard Medical School Faculty) will explain how actuaries can offer practical solutions that provide insights into variations in clinical practice that cannot be explained by differences in medical conditions or patient preferences.

Description: Essay reforming healthcare where participants have a vested interest in reaching the best answer.

Description: The Part D program is funded through a variety of government subsidies and manufacturer discounts. The federal reinsurance, initially designed as protection from catastrophic spending, became a primary source of subsidies for the program. When the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is fully implemented in 2025, the funding of Part D will realign to its original intent.