Description: Discussion of financial underwriting issues and methods for individual life insurance. Followed by discussion papers submitted by several authors

Description: Disease management [DM] is a health care intervention targeted to individuals with chronic diseases chronics. To justify the investment by payers in DM, it is important to demonstrate beneficial clinical and financial outcomes. This paper analyzes the health cost trends between the chronic and non-chronic populations. Paper 7 of an 8 paper series on 'An Introduction to Care Management Interventions and Their Implications for Actuaries'.

Description: In an increasing population the number of persons falls off from age to age more rapidly than does the stationary population of the life table. This can introduce a systematic bias into life table calculations. The first part of the paper describes an iterative procedure to correct for the bias, extends the method to multiple decrement and associated single decrement life tables, and demonstrates the magnitude of the bias involved. The second part of the paper summarizes the results of applying iterative life table techniques to 165 populations which encompass over a century's experience and include countries from all parts of the world. Followed by discussions submitted by several people

Description: This is a research project on possible replacement indices for the 30 year treasury rates used to value current liability for defined benefit pension plans in the US.

Description: This report compares health care utilization and expenditures between individuals with Crohn’s disease who had used infliximab and those who had not. Claims data from the 1999-2003 Thomson Reuters MarketScan commercial claims and encounters databases and inpatient, outpatient, and prescription drug claims data of individuals older than 18 years of age with a diagnosis of Crohn’s were included.

Description: Several of the insurance problems discussed are far short of a final definitive solution - the objective is rather to suggest some coherent patterns for developing effective practical methods of cost analysis. Problems are considered in the areas of company policy and practices, operational cost control, and premium and dividend calculations.

Description: This paper applies the principles and methodologies discussed in earlier papers in this series to measure cost savings from a two-year disease management DM program for the 200,000 Medicare members of a regional managed care plan. We then study how savings estimates change when we allow for four variations in key assumptions: methods for identifying or excluding plan members, requirements for eligibility in the health plan, methods for calculating health care trend and study design. Finally, we also examine the sensitivity of these results to product type by comparing the Medicare results to those of the Commercial HMO/POS product. Paper 8 of an 8 paper series titled: “Evaluating the Results of Care Management Interventions: Comparative Analysis of Different Outcomes Measures” sponsored by the Society of Actuaries’ Health Section and the Committee on Knowledge Extension Research.

Description: This paper develops an analytical method for evaluating the utility of tax-planning activities that cause initial statutory surplus strain and expands the horizon beyond normal pricing applications to the evaluation of other activities requiring the initial investment of statutory surplus.

Description: This is a discussion about computer models and simulation tools for life insurance companies. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1969, Vol. 21, No. 59AB

Description: This is a discussion for the paper by Manuel Gelles titled, 'Actuarial Considerations in Cost Analysis'. Commentators add their own perspectives and critiques.