Description: This is a summary of topics discussed at the 1996 Bowles Symposium: “The Old Age Crisis: Actuarial Opportunities,” September 26-27, 1996, at Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Description: Panel discussion of prospects for cost containment of, and alternatives to, fee-for-service health care, and management of health care under national health insurance. Discussion points include cost containment devices, HMOs, economic impact, cost escalation, self-insurance, stop-loss, claims administration, loss of state premium taxes, and Phase 3 tax problems under NH1.

Description: This session is about supplemental and specialty health products in Japan, the UK, Canada and Australia. It also includes a discussion on health care reform for individual health and long-term care products. From Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 19, No. 1A.

Description: This session is about the impact of health-care reform on supplemental health insurance plans such as Medicare Supplement, Hospital, Cancer, etc. The session will also explore new opportunities for supplementary markets and products. Included is a discussion of the CHAMPUS and FEHBP. From Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 19, No. 4B.

Description: Why is it that two competent actuaries making reasonable assumptions can arrive at very different conclusions when evaluating the impact of proposed health care reforms? Are the answers really as different as they appear to be on the surface? This presentation from Session 137IF of the SOA 1996 Orlando Annual Meeting outlines and highlights some of the key actuarial issues that arise in the course of these analyses. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 22, No. 3.

Description: Panelists discuss issues arising from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 1.

Description: Panel covers a variety of current issues in the Medicare supplement marketplace, including the impact of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Issues affecting both managed care and traditional Medicare supplement are discussed. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Description: A proposal to reform current health care market, from a 'preferred payer' system, in which Medicare and Medicaid pay less than the true cost while others must then pay more, to a 'value for money' system. This would be achieved by requiring providers to bill all patients the same rate for the same services, with a standard bundling format to make all providers' rate differences transparent. Differences between billed charges and what Medicare pays would be made up by the Medicare patient, rather than subsidized by those outside of Medicare.

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: An article that provides an actuary's opinion of why health insurance reform will work and believes that Congress should use insurance reform as the cornerstone for successful legislation.