Description: This report provides highlights of a weekly survey of practices regarding the mitigation of the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. during the second half of January 2021 along with comparisons to prior half-month time periods. The survey asks about the degree to which the respondents perceive that people in their community are following 21 common mitigation practices. The responses are separated by state and compared to state level statistics regarding the level of COVID-19 infections from the Johns Hopkins COVID database for the same time period.

Description: Climate change has the potential to wreak havoc on ecosystems worldwide. One anticipated repercussion is the change in suitable habitats of vectors, such as mosquitos and ticks, who can transmit serious and even life-threatening diseases to humans. In this report, we outline major vector-borne diseases, discuss their symptoms and treatment costs, and present the relevant research regarding their evolving spatial patterns due to climate change.

Description: In health insurance marketplaces, prospective insured individuals and groups are able to choose from a range of available plans. This study uses health care encounter data to simulate the choices faced by health insurance shoppers under a variety of conditions and measures the simulated effect of increased consumer choice and consumer information on medical loss ratios and, as a consequence, insurer profitability.

Description: 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.

Description: This article discusses the court cases dealing with the severability of the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act. Severability is related to essentiality, and actuarial input was relied upon to determine essentiality. The article concludes with lessons that actuaries should learn from the legal proceedings.

Description: Read the April 2020 issue of Health Watch, published by the Health Section. Practical information for actuaries, articles impact sections, section activities.

Description: Managed care networks are important to control rising health care costs . these need to be priced appropriately to produce the right results for all stakeholders . This includes analysis of utilization and costs for both in and out of network claims . A variety of risk and administrative service options exist for entities assuming such risk .

Description: This paper is a primer for actuaries with limited experience in accessing and using public data sets. From Small Talk Newsletter, November 2005, Issue No. 25.

Description: There are many ways to actively utilize BE approaches – and implementing these important tools can help insurers in many ways.

Description: Description of the design and purpose of the military health system and Veterans Health Administration's programs. Covers the types of benefits offered and how these programs differ from typical commercial health systems.