Description: An overview of the issues behind reimbursing providers on a bundled or packaged basis. The article presents the potential advantages offered by the proponents as well as the criticisms and obstacles to implementing this type of payment system.

Description: This article discusses the potential characteristics of health care reform and the associated impact on small insurance companies.

Description: The author reviews the impact of health care exchanges becoming operational in 2014, and he offers ideas for efficient risk identification and ways to measure the results.

Description: Discussion of recent developments in the taxation of noncoordinated benefits such as fixed indemnity, hospital indemnity, and specified disease insurance policies. Developments include a recent Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum and proposed triagency rulemaking that would impact non coordinated benefits.

Description: The big event of 2023 is the launch of multiple Humira biosimilars, which began in January with the arrival of Amgen’s Amjevita on the market. The launch of Amjevita kicks off the process of changing the specialty drug marketplace in the United States. The expectation of the full impact of this big event is very hopeful, but there is still uncertainty several months after its beginning. Humira is the highest-selling drug in the world and has been since 2013 (Figure 1)—except for when COVID-19 projects temporarily surpassed it. The world is eagerly awaiting the launch of multiple biosimilar drugs to compete with Humira and hopefully bring more competitive pricing to the benefit of payers and patients everywhere.

Description: An overview of health care history and privatization developments in four Latin American countries: Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil.

Description: Article on the history of the Long Term Care Discussion Group, a Washington DC-based venue for discussing long-term care and related issues for over 20 years.

Description: There has been a proliferation of proposals to expand access to public health insurance plans, either to strengthen insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or to replace the ACA marketplaces or other health insurance programs altogether. These proposals range from creating a public plan that would operate alongside private plans in the ACA marketplaces, to allowing individuals to buy into Medicare or Medicaid, to expanding Medicare to all. The terms used to describe these various options are often used interchangeably but they would be structured differently and have different impacts depending on the implementation details. Panelists at this session will discuss the general approaches for expanding access to public plans and their potential implications.

Description: A panel of practicing actuaries and policy analysts will discuss the 'big issues' that could affect the actuarial profession in the future, and suggest ideas on how the actuarial profession could adapt to these challenges. This will be an interactive session where attendees can expect to have an opportunity to weigh in through polling questions and discussion. Topics touched will include: socialized medicine, artificial intelligence, the competition from data scientists, data commoditization, disruption from new entrants into the healthcare insurance space, and more.

Description: This essay discusses the long overdue effciencies that would improve the quality of healthcare in the United States.