Description: In the past months, as COVID-19 has forced the reduced activity in the U.S. economy there has been some very substantial, but varied effects on the U.S. healthcare system. There is a lot of potential for confusion amongst providers and patients with regards to decisions related to which services ought to be rendered and which ought to be deferred. Two specific agencies – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) have put together some guidance to add more clarity towards what types of services should be provided and what types ought to be deferred. In addition, this paper includes a discussion on what types of services are most likely to be deferred, and which ones will accrue pent-up demand to be released when many of the deferred services become available again.

Description: The report looks at the different outcomes for the 50 states from the ACA, in terms of cost and availability of health insurance coverage. It identifies 11 key observations since the passage of the ACA.

Description: This is a brief report that summarizes recent changes in the prevalent medical loss ratio methodologies and also looks at some of the more recent experience of health insurers that filed medical loss ratio reports.

Description: The SOA has translated four of its AIT report summaries into both Traditional and Simplified Chinese. They are “Behavioral Science”, “Big Data and the Future Actuary”, “Cancer Genomics”, and “Cloud Computing and Machine Learning Uses in the Actuarial Profession.

Description: This report is a comprehensive survey of existing literature on mortality and race and ethnicity in the United States, examining disparities in mortality rates among different racial and ethnic groups. It explores factors influencing mortality differentials, including socioeconomic status, health care access, and other relevant aspects.

Description: This suite of projects analyze four decades of U.S. mortality disparities across socioeconomic groups, providing data-driven insights using life tables and demographic techniques.

Description: The SOA is seeking researchers to explore considerations within the LGBTQ+ community impacting employer-based health benefit designs. Review details on the background, research objectives, proposal requirements, selection process, submission guidelines, and project conditions.

Description: The Society of Actuaries (“SOA”) Research Institute is the research arm of the SOA, providing objective, data-driven research that brings together tried and true practices and future-focused approaches to address societal challenges and business needs. The Institute provides trusted knowledge, extensive experience and new technologies to help effectively identify, predict and manage risks.

Description: The SOA released a report titled Massachusetts Health Insurance Reform, which looks at the impact on insurance markets, pricing and profitability.

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.