Description: Q&A with President Life & Health US. Swiss Re. Neil Sprackling.

Description: Feature article with helpful hints on video conferencing and more!

Description: The diary of Dirk Nieder, an actuary who traveled in Asia amid the COVID-19 pandemic, tying in what he saw in asia countries and developments from the west.

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: Heatmaps are an effective tool for visualizing changes in cancer incidences over time in large datasets. They can show the impact of screening measures, particularly when targeting specific age groups, and reveal characteristics of individual cohorts.

Description: The US healthcare system is among the world's most advanced, but is the highest-cost by far. At Swiss Re we studied the highest-cost US Medicare beneficiaries during 2016. The Medicare government program primarily covers seniors and individuals with disabilities. Total Medicare spending during 2016 was nearly USD 700,000,000,000. In our study, the 1% of beneficiaries with costs of USD 125,000 or higher generated 15% of total claim costs. Better understanding of these beneficiaries and their treatment could lead to improved quality and efficiency of care. Analysis of their claims can aid projections of the expected level and variance of costs. We calculated claim costs and rates, and identified higher-cost segments (including inpatient claims, individuals with disabilities or end-stage renal disease, Pacific states including California, and men). We look forward to expanding the analysis in future updates.

Description: The article summarizes the results of the 2024 Life Reinsurance Survey of Individual Life and Group Life business written in the traditional life reinsurance markets of the United States and Canada. The article summarizes the new business volume written in 2024 and 2023 as well as the volume of ceded reinsurance in force at year-end 2024 and 2023.

Description: It is with great pleasure that we announce the winner of the “2024 Best Article” in Reinsurance News. Amongst a pool of exceptional articles, the article “What Does the Future of Mortality Look Like?” submitted by Adam Jedynak and Connie Cheng was chosen by the jury as the victorious submission. The article appeared in the June 2024 issue of Reinsurance News. It explores recent shifts in mortality, including post-COVID excess mortality, and looks at the impact of medical advancements and societal changes on mortality.