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: ongoing discussion of the proper interest rate to use in discounting liability cash flows to reflect credit risk of the insurer in a fair value accounting system

Description: Presenter describes many of the desirable characteristics of a health care financing system, and alternative health care financing systems as they are found in other parts of the world. The advantages and disadvantages of each alternative system are also discussed. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 2.

Description: Panelists discuss the methods HMOs employ to measure their providers' quality of care, outcomes, compliance with best practice guidelines, and cost control. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 2.

Description: Discussion regarding who's to blame for cost increase, Government's role to ensure coverage and keep costs down, steps to control costs, plan design changes. Issue No. 47.

Description: Panelists discuss employers' perspective of defining strategies to identify best-in-market opportunities. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 1.

Description: This note is labeled actuarial because it deals extensively with the force of interest, a concept which is characteristically of concern to the actuarial community. The authors’ personal point of view is that we should modify the basic definition of the compound interest.

Description: John Shuttleworth explains why our exam syllabus needs updated and shares examples of inconsistencies in the material and actual financial economics. Edward Friend responds to this article.

Description: Panelists discuss the ongoing influence and long-term implications of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act on the health insurance market in the U.S. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Description: The Behavioral Finance subgroup of the Health Section will be publishing a series of literature reviews in Health Watch. This is the first review of three in the series. The reviewed article describes an attempt to place an econometric value on consumers’ preferences between broad and narrow networks.