Description: Health care costs in the U.S. are 18% of the GDP compared to 11% in comparable countries. In this session, the presenters will describe the drivers behind this problem, discuss potential issues and outline the SOA's efforts to addressing the issue.

Description: Because of increasing longevity in the world's population, a larger proportion of people will live long enough to develop chronic diseases. Because of their large numbers and extent of their individual expenses, the public sector will need to intervene to help these patients and their families. From Financing Chronic Care Monograph, M-HB05-1.

Description: New products should address having acceptable carrier risks and at the same time enhance the product’s value to consumers to pave the way for broader acceptance.

Description: This research report is sponsored by The Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries on the Canadian health care system. Performed by Stéphane Levert, FSA, FCIA, the study (available in French and English) estimated the future costs of the Canadian health care system, assessed the sustainability of the system over a 25-year horizon, and analyzed the implications of the changes to the Canada Health Transfer proposed on Dec. 19, 2011 by the federal government. The report summarizing the findings indicates that, without significant government intervention, the Canadian health care system in its current form is not sustainable.

Description: The collective investment in transforming the life insurance proposition exceeds anything seen in the last thirty years — a working lifetime. As one would expect, reinsurers are playing a major role. The past five years have seen global reinsurers raise the bar on client experience to new levels, while also investing, expanding and re-organizing to support the transformation of the primary insurance industry, and in so doing also their own.

Description: This article discusses the “Future of Long Term Care” Think Tank.

Description: Servant Leadership is a leadership philosophy that focuses on organizational success through serving and enriching the lives of the employees. As employees become engaged the organization becomes more vibrant, sustainable and successful. Four primary principles are discussed: Create an Environment for Employee Growth; Provide Employees What the Need to Thrive; Remove Obstacles to Employee Achievement; Help Employees Reach Organizational and Personal Goals. Trust, creativity, shared vision, listening, job skills and personal attention lift employees up, creating high quality, engaged employees that help drive organizational success and create a pool from which the next generation of leaders for the company will emerge.

Description: This paper provides an outline of three potential initiatives that may be undertaken by the government and the private sector. The first initiative aims at reducing the cost of health care at the provider level. The second initiative provides a means to improve the quality of health care. The third initiative creates a constructive basis for identifying medical best practices to enhance quality.

Description: An actuarial perspective on a book review of Biological Imperatives a book written by biologist Allan Chase. An interesting perspective which may be of interest as the United States evaluates its health care reform options.

Description: This article provides a high-level overview of the 2015 Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance (ILTCI) Conference that was held March 22-25, 2015, at the The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The article contains a summary of all conference activities, including various networking and educational opportunities. The main objective of the conference is to provide an information sharing and collaborative environment for insurance professionals, regulatory authorities, insurance educational institutes, actuaries and other special groups with an interest in long-term care (LTC) insurance.