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 study was sponsored by the Society of Actuaries Health Section. This paper explores the relative significance of aging as a determinant of financial cost of health care beyond age 50, with particular attention to the effect for ages 65 and older. The paper presents concepts of aging factors and aging curves, which define relative values between ages for utilization or cost of health care services. General conclusions are drawn from Medicare data that utilization and cost differ by age, but that aging factors vary across services and may be less significant at very old ages. The author then turns to the question of measuring the significance of an aging curve assumption and what accuracy is lost in the simpler alternative of a single value across an age range.

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: 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: Changes in CMS requirements for 2011 Medicare Part D plans aimed at reducing confusion surrounding the PDP selection process by making plan differences more visible to seniors. Carriers have responded by making the most significant changes in plan offerings since the program's inception, which is expected to result in membership shifts.

Description: The moderator will review senior health products: Medicare supplement, Medicare risk, hospital indemnity policy HIP, cancer, accidental death AD, and employer continuance. Discussion will include product design, pricing, administration, regulation, and marketing. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 1.

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: 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: The article explores how deeply the Affordable Care Act reduced the Medicare Advantage benchmark payment rates and quantifies how much of that reduction Medicare Advantage Organizations earned back through quality bonuses.

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.