Description: This study was sponsored by the Society of Actuaries Health Section. This paper explores the relative significance of aging as a determinant of financial cost of health care beyond age 50, with particular attention to the effect for ages 65 and older. The paper presents concepts of aging factors and aging curves, which define relative values between ages for utilization or cost of health care services. General conclusions are drawn from Medicare data that utilization and cost differ by age, but that aging factors vary across services and may be less significant at very old ages. The author then turns to the question of measuring the significance of an aging curve assumption and what accuracy is lost in the simpler alternative of a single value across an age range.

Description: Identifying and submitting all appropriate ICD-9 diagnosis codes to CMS will result in a higher risk score for the member and increased payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Milliman's HCC prevalence study illustrates the significant variations in HCC prevalence rates by age/gender, geography, and population type and will assist plans in benchmarking the effectiveness of their own diagnosis code capture efforts.

Description: These are the exhibits and appendices accompanying the paper Estimated Impact of Medicare Part D on Retiree Prescription Drug Costs.

Description: This report provides estimated savings for several of the options that are available to plan sponsors after implementation of the Medicare prescription drug program.

Description: The article explores how deeply the Affordable Care Act reduced the Medicare Advantage benchmark payment rates and quantifies how much of that reduction Medicare Advantage Organizations earned back through quality bonuses.

Description: A summary of Medicare reform and its effect on prescription drug coverage.