Description: Presented at the Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. In India, the prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases has been increasing tremendously. This spurt of diseases and the resultant morbidity is severely affecting the quality of life of the elderly. The problem is compounded by a medical and health care infrastructure which is inadequate to meet the challenge. This paper analyzes and estimates, using actuarial tools, the effect on the economy with particular focus on the present and future elderly segment of the population, identifies opportunities for insurers to address the situation, and suggests remedial measures to deal with the situation. Medico-actuarial studies in this area will also be covered.

Description: An essay suggesting a health care financing system.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. This article estimates the impact of obesity and diabetes on disability and mortality for those older than 65 using the 2004 National Long Term Care Survey with disability based on the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act's Activities of Daily Living and Cognitive Impairment triggers.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. This paper addresses the question of how socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, health status and health behaviors are associated with oldest-old mortality and survivorship among people who have survived to old age. Data comes from the 1990-91 National Health Interview Survey’s Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Supplement and the mortality follow-up through 2002. The results indicate that activity limitation and exercise status, in combination with education, play an important role in survival into ages between 65 and 85, but have a smaller effect on survival among the oldest-old population of 85+.

Description: Disease management DM is increasingly encountered in health plans and employer groups as a health care intervention targeted to individuals with chronic diseases chronics. The untested assumption is that without DM, the chronic and non-chronic trends are identical. From Financing Chronic Care Monograph, M-HB05-1.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 symposium, January 2011. This paper investigates dynamic properties of age trajectories of physiological indices and their effects on mortality risk and longevity using longitudinal data on more than 5,000 individuals collected in biannual examinations of the Framingham Heart Study original age group during about 50 subsequent years of follow up.

Description: Chapter 2 reviews previous research in the area of health risk assessment. From A Comparative Analysis of Methods of Health Risk Assessment, M-HB96-1.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. This paper first explores the current state and contributing causes of obesity. It then explores the mortality and health care costs of obesity. It ends with a discussion of its management.

Description: Chapter 3 describes the methods and data being used in the evaluation predictive accuracy. From A Comparative Analysis of Methods of Health Risk Assessment, M-HB96-1.

Description: Successful healthcare reform: First, it must help that must keep healthy people healthy. Second, it must help people mitigate or eliminate the health-risks associated with unhealthy lifestyle behavior choices, and Third, it must ensure the provision of evidence-based care to those who are ill.