Description: The presenters will provide updates on research being conducted under SOA sponsorship. This includes projects on the topics of Direct Primary Care and Patient Centered Medical Homes.

Description: Essay where payers desiring to optimize health gains per dollar spent should avoid “across the board” cost sharing, and instead implement a “value based” design that removes barriers/provides incentives to encourage desired behaviors for patients and providers.

Description: The coming wave of biosimilars could dramatically affect prescription drug costs and benefit strategies over the next several years. The launch of many Humira biosimilars in 2023 is the Big Event that will largely determine the impact of the biosimilar wave. Payers have many decisions to make about coverage and formulary tiers. What factors will drive payer decision-making?

Description: Discover the key components of value-based care (VBC) contracts and their impact on provider credibility. Learn about benchmarks, measurement period results, and the unique challenges providers face in managing insurance risk. Gain insights into reducing costs and aligning financial incentives in the US healthcare market.

Description: What is the difference between a Single-Payer and Universal Health Care System, and how could the U.S. implement a system that would reduce the growth of medical costs while increasing quality.

Description: This article provides an overview of critical illness insurance: history, product description, and the three primary ways to offer critical illness coverage in the United States. This article also contains an illustration of an issue age premium rate calculation, as well as product features and rating applications specific to the various types of critical illness coverage.

Description: Insurance commissioners and deputy insurance commissioners will discuss current topics including health care reform, life insurance issues, risks in the major medical markets, voluntary products and other topics.

Description: The always popular Medicaid Hot Topics session is back with discussions from an expert panel on the most riveting Medicaid topics of the year. These could include the following: • Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Proposed Regulations• Tennessee's Block Grant Proposal• ACA court battles: What are the potential impacts on Medicaid? • Pass-through payments are converting to directed payments: What is changing?• And more current topics of interest to Medicaid actuariesMedicaid is dynamic and it is difficult to stay current on all of the changes. This session provides insightful discussion into the major changes that impact actuaries and their companies or state clients.

Description: The Society of Actuaries Research Institute developed a new study to explore pharmacy financing. The goals of the SOA related to this research are to identify opportunities to increase transparency, encourage competition, align stakeholder incentives and mitigate increases in total cost of care. The research uses a value-based methodology.

Description: On average, contracts receiving their first star rating receive 3.20 stars, compared to existing or established contracts receiving 3.90 stars on average. This 0.70 disparity in quality ratings creates significant hardship on new contracts when this lower star rating decreases their payments in the following calendar year. This article explores the disparity in Medicare Advantage Star Ratings between contracts receiving their first star ratings (“New” contracts) and existing contracts, including: 1. Understanding what happens to Medicare Advantage Payments when contracts receive lower star ratings? – What is the Star Rating cliff and why does it matter to new contracts? 2. Explaining when a contract receives their first star rating and how much enrollment this requires – When does the Star Rating cliff occur? 3. Noting which specific star measures “New” contracts struggle with, including those contracts under large parent organizations, contracts with rapid growth, and all other new contracts. – How can my contract avoid the Star Rating cliff?