Description: There is a wide range of literature on aging and health care. We sample this literature and find it fits into the subcategories of theoretical aging, medical significance of aging, treatment of the elderly, and resource allocation to the elderly. Themes are that financial arrangements can cause inefficient and ineffective care and that care guidelines need to developed specifically for the elderly rather than extrapolating guidelines for younger patients.

Description: This article examines the concept of Actuarial Value, especially as it applies to the Medicare plan of benefits. It discusses the cost-sharing responsibility of Medicare beneficiaries and the means by which they mitigate this risk.

Description: This paper discusses the quality of healthcare verses the price of healthcare and puruses individuals and doctors making decisions for their own healthcare costs and services.

Description: Panel discusses the effects of reduced payment levels to many Medicare managed care organizations. 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 and influence health care policymakers on issues including principles for health care reform, Medicare, wellness programs, and solvency.

Description: The American Academy of Actuaries is engaged in several projects that proactively examine the future status of the Medicare Program. This session presents the findings that have resulted from these efforts. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 2.

Description: Risk adjusters were first used for the Y2K reimbursements to Medicare+Choice laws. How did plans fare? What was the financial impact to the Medicare program? What changes are expected for the future? From Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 26, No. 1. From Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 26, No. 1: Las Vegas Spring Meeting, May 22-24, 2000, Session 125PD.

Description: Presented at October 2000 Annual Meeting. The panel presents the status of recent legislative proposals and current election debates, and then focuses more attention on the potential longer-term directions for the health-care system.

Description: Presented at May 2000 Spring Meeting. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 dramatically changes the competitive landscape for Medicare products by establishing the Medicare+Choice program. This session recaps the Balanced Budget Act's impact on payment rates for capitated plans and the effects that the changes have made on benefit design and enrollment trends in certain geographical areas.

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.