Description: Panel discussion focusing on managing health care costs.

Description: Diabetes mellitus type 2 is an excellent model for assessing the setup of medical coverage in the U.S. health care system. It is a chronic disease that has genetic, behavioral and other medical causes, and causes many complications over the long term. From Financing Chronic Care Monograph, M-HB05-1.

Description: Article focuses on a number of strategies that can be used to improve results in a DC plan. It is based on information from several outside sources. It encourages people with DB backgrounds to learn more about DC issues.

Description: We discussed impacts of procrastination and strategies to harness the power of inertia to aid individuals in their pursuit of future financial well-being.

Description: Retirees and their advisors should construct diversified portfolios of retirement income, allocating among various retirement income classes that include Social Security, annuities, and systematic withdrawals from invested assets. This essay discusses the pros and cons of various retirement income generators and the issues with constructing retirement income portfolios.

Description: This essay advocates that the transition from DB to DC plans won't be complete until plan sponsors offer programs of retirement income in their DC plans. The essay discusses the relevant actuarial and behavioral issues.

Description: Actuaries should understand the economic considerations involved in the formulary drug decision-making process, and the presence of actuarial input in the process could improve it, especially by tying it to overall decision making for the health plan. From Prescription Drugs Monograph, M-HB04-1.

Description: Understanding the true drivers of human behavior is essential if we are to capitalize on opportunities offered in a new era of personalized persuasion.

Description: The article discusses the sustainability of the ACA individual market from a public entitlement standpoint. A key point of measuring sustainability is the reliance on market forces rather than federal budget constraints. The article explains why an actuarial viewpoint of sustainability is necessary to a greater extent than other public assistance and social insurance programs. The article challenges actuaries to be a bold, objective voice in a space that is full of opinionated but often uninformed viewpoints.

Description: A comment letter to policymakers produced jointly by the SOA and AAA presents findings from their actuarial analysis of the proposed CLASS Act. The analysis indicates that the proposed structure and funding approaches will be unsustainable, and will cover only a very small proportion of the intended population. The opt-out and guaranteed issue provisions of the plan pose a risk that soon the program will either need increased premiums and/or significant reductions.