Description: This article gives an overview of retiree health aging curves. This overview is based on the author's paper entitled Aging Curves for Health Care Costs in Retirement which was published in the July, 2005 issue of the North American Actuarial Journal NAAJ. From Pension Section News, January 2006, No. 60.

Description: This is Appendix B to the research report measuring the annual frequency of medical errors in the United States and the total measurable cost to the United States economy of these errors. See the SOA web site research section for the full report.

Description: This paper identifies and discusses issues affecting retirees’ abilities to successfully navigate medical insurance choices after their employer retiree medical insurance group benefit plan has been terminated and replaced by an outsourced health reimbursement account (HRA) providing accessibility to a stipend through eligible medical insurance claims submissions.

Description: Recap of National Academy of Social Insurance NASI annual conference “Getting to Universal Health Insurance Coverage”

Description: Report on the activities of the Academy’s health practice council and its work groups.

Description: Research report sponsored by SOA to model and compare projected costs of different proposals for a Medicare prescription drug coverage plan. 3 types of costs are studied: net benefit cost estimates per member per month, continuance table data, and projected annual costs to the government over 10 years for two selected plan designs.

Description: This article provides an overview of behavioral economic theory as it relates to health and welfare insurance plans and provides summaries of two sample applications of the theories: enrollment in health insurance exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and product design considerations in light of vast health illiteracy.

Description: Obesity is poised to overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of death. What parallels can be drawn between public and reinsurance industry responses to these two lifestyle choices? Swiss Re investigates.

Description: MACRA not only impact providers, it will impact the entire healthcare market. MACRA published studies and commentary to date have primarily focused on providers, with the majority of the information addressing the impacts to clinicians. However, our investigation indicates MACRA has far reaching impacts to payers as well as providers. MACRA is impacting each geographic market and line of business in a unique way, and health payers will have multiple strategic decisions to consider given the changing market dynamics.

Description: This article talks about the ultimate health care cost trend rate ssumption in retiree medical liability valuation work. Issue No. 59