Description: The International Actuarial Association Health Section, the Society of Actuaries International Section, and American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) published the report “International Health Care Funding 2020”. This article highlights the features of the report.

Description: In one way or another, COVID-19 has affected everyone’s lives in theUnited Kingdom, with increased evidence of the magnitude of the direct and indirect impacts on health and wellbeing becoming more widely available. Recently, it has been predicted that 10 million people will require new or additional mental health support services in England as a direct result of the pandemic, for the next three to five years.

Description: Countries developing universal health care via an insurance vehicle face a variety of challenges. Deciding which benefits to include, where to proactively manage health, and how to reimburse network providers are just a sampling of the issues governments concurrently manage. Optimal choices are data-driven responses. For example, high rates of cervical cancer or increasing narcotics prescriptions are trends that can be managed through product changes, modified network payment structures, or even employer based outreach. This kind of information is typically gleaned from established health insurance claims data. However, in emerging health insurance markets, this level of granular claims data is largely missing. It is difficult to manage medical trend when the root causes are unclear. This article explores a pilot medical underwriting project in Jordan.

Description: About a year ago we published our whitepaper “Insurance Innovation Opportunities Beyond COVID-19”. In the paperwe made some predictions on what innovation opportunities the pandemic would bring to the insurance space. It ishard to believe, but we’ve already had a year of living with the pandemic. In recognition of how much time haspassed, we want to look back at a few of our customer realities from last spring set against the innovations thathave been delivered in the market since.

Description: The South African life insurance industry contains the largest life insurance market in Africa, it is highly sophisticated and highly regulated. In the years 2020 and2021, the industry suffered significant mortality losses due toCovid-19. What can we learn from this experience in South Africa?

Description: Three consultants offer their views on a pandemic and post-pandemic economic future that awaits Mexico. COVID-19 deepened the contraction of the Mexican economy. As manufacturing and consumption bounce back, sustaineddemand for services can help recovery. But a policy push is needed. The global pandemic came at a time when the Mexican economy had contracted for five straight quarters due to avariety of factors such as deceleration in investment and private consumption and uncertainty around the free tradeagreement with the United States and Canada. The COVID-19 crisis accelerated this trend, resulting in the largest contraction since the Great Depression of 1929.

Description: Many countries have suffered the ups and downs of the COVID-19pandemic, and Mexico is no exception. Even worse, in contrast withEuropean countries that saw numbers dip during the summer of2020, Mexico did not. A first peak was reached at the end of July2020, then a slight decrease in the following two months. SinceOctober, Mexico has experienced the worst increasing trend of thewhole epidemic. In this article, Arturo Erdely, a professor of actuarialscience, explains this increase.

Description: Presenting the customer a measurable value of life insurance that makes the advice process transparent to both the customer and adviser.

Description: Professionalism did not start with COVID-19, but it has brought many new situations to our attention.Professionalism is more than just adhering to rules and regulations and it is complex. As an actuary, you need toconstruct your own “moral compass” and be prepared to make the tough personal and work-related decisions asthey arise. While difficult decisions may not be a common occurrence during your careers, your moral compass willmake it possible to act with confidence when something needs to be done. Finally, while the actuarial profession hascodes of conduct, it is ultimately your personal conduct that determines your reputation as a professional

Description: This article relates the experience of a retired actuary's volunteer's work in a USAID/Farmer to Farmer program. he work was to review the IFRS accounting treatment of a non-profit foundation based in Colombia.