Description: This paper offers basic, economic and actuarial ideas to improve the balance of cost, access to treatment and quality over time.

Description: Essay recommending establishing a consistent and actuarially sound foundation for assessing the costs and benefits of each and every current and new Medicare or other healthcare proposal.

Description: Essay stating accessibility, affordability and efficiency are the key to success in the future of healthcare.

Description: Essay states a competing American ideals for the U.S. Health care system include free markets which foster competition, cost effectiveness and quality health care vs.public and private assistance which provides health care independent of a person’s financial means.

Description: Why and how to set up an advance directive, in case a health event renders you unable to make your own medical to decisions.

Description: SOA’s recently completed research project related to long term projects of health care cost trends for use in post retirement medical valuations.

Description: This abstract describes a presentation in which the use of the propensity score in health care studies can minimize biases stemming from non-random treatment assignment and lead to appropriate conclusions on the effect of the intervention.

Description: Feature article discussing the growing opportunities for actuaries in the health wellness arena.

Description: Rising drug—and, to a lesser extent, health care—costs in Canada are creating long-term challenges for not only governments and employers across Canada but for individuals as well, with no easy answers.

Description: The objective of this project is to summarize the existing literature on end of life issues of interest to actuaries, and to document a broad list of such articles. The end of life issues explored are multi-dimensional and from multiple perspectives. When considering cost implications of end of life care, it is necessary to consider cost in a broad context as it is a measure that cannot solely be defined by dollars. Other dimensions of cost, such as quality of care, family care giving, communication, patient preferences and access to care, should also be explored.