Description: Provides an overview of the Academy Health organization, its annual research meeting, and the SOA participation at that meeting.

Description: A list of acronyms for the names of the agencies, unions, and other organizations and entities involved in the French social insurance, health policy, and long-term care environment.

Description: Developing a formal strategy to guide the SOA’s activities with respect to public policy-related topics is underway. Recent experience shows that non-partisan contributions through the SOA’s research are already adding value to important public policy discussions.

Description: In the winning article in the International Section’s annual country feature article competition, the author recounts his experience of living in Zurich, Switzerland, and compares U.S. and Swiss cultural influences on health care.

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: Overview of research project to investigate the extent of funding of public government retiree health programs.

Description: A summary of pathology, risk factors, treatments, public health issues, and economic costs of Alzheimer's Disease.

Description: Part 1 of a 2-part series exploring implementation issues for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 MHPAEA. Part 2 addresses the new enforcement safe harbor, how the regulations could impact the business of behavioral health care and the impending decisions for payors, employers, providers, and insureds.

Description: Panelists discuss key aspects of recent and pending laws and the cost and design implications on group health plans. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 2.

Description: Updates on the efforts of the Academy’s health practice council. its work groups and task forces, to educate health care policymakers on issues including principles for reform, Medicare, the individual insurance market, and risk factors.