Description: This study produces annual claim costs for Group Weekly Indemnity Insurance and Group Employee & Dependents Hospital & Surgical Expense Insurance and exhibits the trend in these claims costs. This report is based on a study by the Committee on Group Accident and Sickness Experience designed to satisfy that need to update previous studies due to the shift in emphasis by plan of benefit, the increase in level of hospital expenses and the change in pattern of these expenses. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1960, Vol. 12, No. 34.

Description: This section features various book reviews: 'How to Cope with the Developing Financial Crisis' by Bladen, 'Policymaking for Social Security' by Derthick, '1979 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal OASDI Trust Funds' by US Congress, 'Integration of Plans with Social Security and Funding' by Grubbs, 'Pension and Profit Sharing Plans - a Basic Guide' by Mamorsky, 'Joint Trust Pension Plans' by McGinn, 'Financing the Civil Service Retirement Systems...' by McGill, 'Pension Task Force Report on Public Employee Retirement Systems' by Committee on Education and Labor. Brief descriptions of additional readings are also included.

Description: This Fellowship credit research paper describes the use of fuzzy sets applications to the selection of group health risks. In general, fuzzy set theory is implemented to describe collections of objects whose boundaries are not precisely defined, as in the judgment of what constitutes a good risk group. First, single-plan underwriting is considered, then the work is extended to multiple-option plans.

Description: In this paper the authors analyze data from group medical expense insurance claims and show that many insurance loss distributions have very 'heavy tails' because large losses represent a disproportionate fraction of the total cost. They also present a simple model to reproduce and explain the large loss behavior. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1990, VOL. 2

Description: This section presents book reviews and summarizations of recent publications: 'Regulation of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans' by Eilers, 'Changes in Family Medical Care Expenditures and Voluntary Health Insurance' by Anderson, Collette, and Feldman, 'Risk Management' by Snider, 'Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service' by Public Health Service. Digests are also included.

Description: The Health Section Council HSC of the Society of Actuaries approved and funded a project to study the cost impact on plan sponsor retiree pharmacy costs when Medicare Part D is implemented in 2006. Actuarial & Health Care Solutions, LLC AHCS was retained by HSC to perform the project. This report provides estimated savings for several of the options that will be available to plan sponsors after implementation of the Medicare prescription drug program.

Description: This report contains historical U.S. population crude mortality rates by gender and single year of age for calendar years 2000-2015.

Description: Healthcare costs have been rising faster than general inflation for many years. Early models that predicted this past pattern projected healthcare expenditure growth that continued to outpace total expenditure growth leading to the fallacious position that the whole of the US economy would ultimately be consumed by healthcare. The Society of Actuaries' Pension Section and Health Section Research teams commissioned Professor Thomas E. Getzen of Temple University to construct a resource model for the projection of long term healthcare cost trends that includes capacity constraints to ensure the long-term projection is rational. The motivation for creation of the model was driven by its potential usage as a resource for the estimation of reportable liabilities for retiree healthcare benefits as specified under FAS 106 and GASB 45 accounting statements. This is a zip file containing the following: 1. A background paper on the creation of the health trend model, 2. The model, programmed in Microsoft Excel [xls format], that projects per-person expenditures and growth rates through 2099 using baseline assumptions, but also permits the flexibility for user–inputted alternative assumptions, and 3. Technical documentation providing transparency and support for the ultimate results.

Description: This section presents book reviews and summaries of recent publications: 'Fundamentals of Private Pensions, 2d Edition' by McGill, 'Pension Plans under Collective Bargaining...' by American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, 'New Trends in Pensions' by Pilch and Wood, 'Valuation of Securities Holdings of Life Insurance Companies' by Fraine, 'Report of the Commission on the Cost of Medical Care, Volumes I-IV' by American Medical Association, 'Health Progress in the US, 1900-1960' by Lerner and Anderson. Also includes some digests.

Description: This document provides an explanation of the Health Company Pandemic Modeling tool excel workbook and gives step by step instructions for companies to enter specific scenarios and assumptions.