Description: Letter from reader about the article Responsible Health Care Reform Part 2: Access to Care with a response from one of the article’s authors. From The Actuary, August/Sept 2010 Vol 7 Issue 4

Description: In April, 2009, the Chinese government launched the most comprehensive Health Care System Reform ever. The goal: to establish and improve the basic health care system covering most urban and rural residents, and to provide the people with safe, effective, convenient and affordable health care. There is no doubt that this 'Made in China' health care reform will become the world’s most extensive health care system reform because it will inevitably affect many players in the game such as the local governments who currently administrate the program, the medical professionals who provide the care, the pharmaceutical manufacturers who provide the medicines, and the very large population who participate in the program, etc. This article summarizes the highlights of China's health care reform program.

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.

Description: Part II of a two-part series discussing individual market evolution from before the ACA through President Trump's first term.

Description: The editors of Health Watch have made health care reform the focus of the Sepctember 2009 issue, and provide an introduction to the issue's contents.

Description: Updates on the efforts of the Academy’s health practice council. its work groups and task forces, to educate and influence health care policymakers on issues including principles for health care reform, Medicare, wellness programs, and solvency.

Description: The author outlines the Academy's analysis of Clinton health care premiums, standard benefits, mental health benefits.

Description: This article, an Honorable Mention Essay for the Society of Actuaries' Entrepreneurial Actuaries Section 2010 Papers Competition, is a discussion of the various issues relating to measurement of data in healthcare. The author presents “a light hearted & tongue-in-cheek take on how healthcare is typically measured, and an entrepreneurial vision for a better world.” Noting that typically data is summarized in deterministic models that produce point estimates for analysis and decision making, the author’s vision presented in the paper “is that of a central repository of actuarially modeled distributions that can either be used as benchmarks or adapted to an organization's experience.”

Description: Summary of results of a 2010 Health Section survey of actuaries and Medicare population, on ways to bend the cost trend curve downward. Issues included transparency, quality measures, fraud and abuse, provider payment, malpractice, medical errors, consumer education, and the pros and cons of employer-sponsored coverage.

Description: Analysis of the projected impact of the Affordable Care Act on Medicare Part C revenue over 2014 through 2017, with background on recent historical revenue trends. The analysis is largely based on CMS published data, with trend analysis based on the Medicare Trustees report and author's assumptions.