Description: In this paper, Honorable Mention Essay for the Society of Actuaries' Entrepreneurial Actuaries Section 2010 Papers Competition, the author examines the rapidly increasing costs of maintaining the U.S. prison system and the fiscal pressures the federal and state governments are faced with, and proposes a plan for an early prisoner release program “with a rigorous, merit-based approach that can be expected to demonstrate favorable outcomes for the general public and the released prisoner.” This plan involves “an optimized process for evaluating the perils associated with freeing candidates eligible for early release - an individualized assessment and quantification of those risks…” The article goes on to describe the costs, benefits, risks, and critical success factors. The report includes two appendices.

Description: This article examines a recent Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM 201149021) in which the IRS concluded that residual value insurance was not insurance for tax purposes. The article questions the TAM's analysis and argues that the accounting regime applied produced a distortion in the insurer's income.

Description: This article discusses how employers and employees often misunderstand the types of coverage they own, and argues that customizing insurance solutions can be a pragmatic solution. The authors note that typically an employer will provide a basic group insurance plan for all employees, and then discuss the advantages of customizing voluntary benefits to supplement core benefits, and how they can be targeted to specific groups.

Description: In this article the author provides guidance to owners of their own actuarial consulting firms, with respect to addressing issues around succession, control and ownership, and planning for retirement.

Description: Financial Reporting for Healthcare Plans objectives, defining market segments, preparing & recasting segment monitoring reports, quantification of liabilities, reconciliation of claim payments, medical management reports, expense control, company plans & projections & budgets, financial indicators & measurements. Issue No. 41.

Description: This article compares the characteristics of a retained executive search and a contingency search. It discusses using a Retained Search firm from the candidates perspective.