Description: Panel discussion focusing on managing health care costs.

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: On May 16th, the Social Security Boards of Trustees sent to the Congress the three annual reports OASDI, HI, and SMI. These reports present cost projections similar to those provided to the Congress last year at the time of enactment of the 1977 Amendments.

Description: Panel discussion of national, state, and provincial developments in health care policy and regulation. Presented at the 1975 annual meeting.

Description: Updates on the efforts of the Academy’s health practice council. its work groups and task forces, to educate health care policymakers on issues including principles for reform, Medicare, the individual insurance market, and risk factors.

Description: An over view of recent revisions to Social Security, and their implications to the private sector of the insurance industry.

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: A proposal to reform current health care market, from a 'preferred payer' system, in which Medicare and Medicaid pay less than the true cost while others must then pay more, to a 'value for money' system. This would be achieved by requiring providers to bill all patients the same rate for the same services, with a standard bundling format to make all providers' rate differences transparent. Differences between billed charges and what Medicare pays would be made up by the Medicare patient, rather than subsidized by those outside of Medicare.

Description: This presentation from Session 61PD of the SOA 1996 Orlando Annual Meeting provides an update on changes to the Medicare health program over the last couple years. In addition, the panelists discuss the merits of additional proposed changes from the White House and both sides of the aisle in Congress. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 22, No. 3.

Description: This session discussed about expected trends in medical care costs, changes in Medicare reimbursement practices and their short- and long-term effects, the emerging responsibility for providing long-term care, rise of managed health care, new and old participants, selection issues, multiple options, and small group market.