Description: This article provides an overview of behavioral economic theory as it relates to health and welfare insurance plans and provides summaries of two sample applications of the theories: enrollment in health insurance exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and product design considerations in light of vast health illiteracy.

Description: This article from The Actuary, April 1971, volume 5, Issue 4 details a national report on health care. Most of the Report of the 1970 National Health Forum is given over to the formal papers and prepared commentaries thereon that served to stimulate discussion at the Forum. The papers themselves amount to statements by proponents of what were perceived to be three alternatives in the financing of health care and three alternatives in the organization of health care.

Description: This article discusses the advantages, logistical concerns, and pricing formulas of implementing a TNHP, in which members pay less for treatment from providers who meet higher quality and cost-effectiveness standards.

Description: In this article, the author discusses the considerations and advantages of implementing an integrated enterprise risk management program for a health insurance company, and presents a summary of Aetna's experience with ERM as a case study.

Description: A comment letter to policymakers produced jointly by the SOA and AAA presents findings from their actuarial analysis of the proposed CLASS Act. The analysis indicates that the proposed structure and funding approaches will be unsustainable, and will cover only a very small proportion of the intended population. The opt-out and guaranteed issue provisions of the plan pose a risk that soon the program will either need increased premiums and/or significant reductions.

Description: Update on the potential impact of national health law legislation, and discussion of the influence of inflation on both the relation between actual and expected claims, and the design of new benefits and administrative procedures. This presentation was made at the 1975 SOA Los Angeles Spring Meeting.

Description: Discussion of possible national health care reform measures, including coverage for the unemployed, employer-mandated plans, publicly funded and administrated plans. Also an overview of recently enacted legislation at both the state and federal level, and measures taken by provider organizations, for controlling costs.. Presented at the Spring 1975 Meeting in New York.

Description: This article provides an introduction to MEPS and where to find data files. From Health Watch, September 2006, Issue No. 53.

Description: The editors of Health Watch have made health care reform the focus of the Sepctember 2009 issue, and provide an introduction to the issue's contents.

Description: An economic analysis of bariatric surgery and health care costs supports the case for health plans to cover these procedures.