Description: The report looks at the different outcomes for the 50 states from the ACA, in terms of cost and availability of health insurance coverage. It identifies 11 key observations since the passage of the ACA.

Description: In the past months, as COVID-19 has forced the reduced activity in the U.S. economy there has been some very substantial, but varied effects on the U.S. healthcare system. There is a lot of potential for confusion amongst providers and patients with regards to decisions related to which services ought to be rendered and which ought to be deferred. Two specific agencies – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) have put together some guidance to add more clarity towards what types of services should be provided and what types ought to be deferred. In addition, this paper includes a discussion on what types of services are most likely to be deferred, and which ones will accrue pent-up demand to be released when many of the deferred services become available again.

Description: The SOA has translated four of its AIT report summaries into both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. They are “Behavioral Science”, “Big Data and the Future Actuary”, “Cancer Genomics”, and “Cloud Computing and Machine Learning Uses in the Actuarial Profession.

Description: Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) include the social and physical conditions in which people are born, live and work on a daily basis. This project advances a growing body of literature to inform the ongoing optimization of population health and payment models.

Description: This is a brief report that summarizes recent changes in the prevalent medical loss ratio methodologies and also looks at some of the more recent experience of health insurers that filed medical loss ratio reports.

Description: Employers, health plans, stop-loss insurers and reinsurers are all affected by the high cost of treating cancer. In recent years, cutting-edge pharmaceuticals, bone marrow transplants and CAR-T cell therapies have driven very high cost trends for cancer, with more emerging therapies on the horizon. In this session, we will review these new treatments, showcase models that aid in understanding the range of likely financial effects of the current, expanded, and likely-to-be approved indications for cell therapies that will treat certain patients affected by lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma. This session will explain important considerations for modeling Medicare, Medicaid versus commercial populations, key risk concerns caused by the size of enrollee pools, and important differences between the various therapies that affect modeling. We will also discuss averted cost, health outcomes, pricing levels, and risks caused by provider billing practices.

Description: Meditation on life, choices and events during the COVID-19 pandemic

Description: This article notes the available pulications from Hank George, an underwriting expert, that will help keep you up to date on the subject.

Description: Feature article about the effects of obesity on life expectancy and how actuaries will be affected.

Description: Using the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) database, we examined which characteristics best predict and describe high-cost members.