Description: This article begins with a comparison of the commercial risk adjuster to the exisiting Medicare model, and goes on to discuss why the existing strategies employed by health plans will not work in a risk adjusted environment. The article elaborates on the importance of diagnosis coding, controlling member mix, and care management in order to mitigate risks and gain from newly created opportunities.

Description: Author asserts that actuaries are arguably better at analyzing and interpreting risk than any other professional. The exhaustive exams teach us how to manage risk, not eliminate it. If the profession is to continue to flourish, it will be vital to take this idea and apply it to one’s career too.

Description: This article explores the changing risk profile between the transitional Affordable Care Act (ACA) period (2014-2016) and under the final ACA period (beyond 2017) for the individual market. Actuaries are in a unique position to help facilitate the change from the current ACA period to the final period when health plans will have to take on substantially more risk.

Description: An analysis of how to compute the variance of the present value of future annuity payments as a component of assessing the mortality component of the provision for adverse deviation in the computation of GAAP reserves.

Description: background history of the insurance industry and the role of actuaries within it, followed by the current environment and anticipated future environment.

Description: A labor union negotiator comments on the papers being presented at this symposium. From The Future of Pension Plan Funding and Disclosure Monograph, M-RS05-1.

Description: This paper reviews the life cycle of a typical pension plan, examines the issues relating to its funding, and proposes a new funding approach that tries to balance the various concerns. From The Future of Pension Plan Funding and Disclosure Monograph, M-RS05-1.

Description: This paper introduces a single measure combining cost and quality of healthcare. This is used to demonstrate the magnitude of the challenge of the increasing dependency rate. It is then used in assessing a number of alternative financing models, including user fees and alternative compensation methods for physicians. The paper documents implementation issues and evaluates the desirability of implementing these approaches in Canada.

Description: This article explores implications for the future of improving the application of existing underwriting techniques and and taking maximum advantage of new technologies.

Description: Discussion of the need for long term care reinsurance and the types of services needed and available.