Health Section - Year in Review
By Derek Ray
Health Watch, November 2024
As we wind down 2024 and the end of my three-year term on the Health Section Council (HSC), I am proud of the work that has been accomplished, encouraged by our council’s eagerness to make a positive difference, and confident that the entire Health Section is in great hands for the future. I previously wrote that I would be honored to serve as HSC chair this year alongside such a talented group of volunteers, and after this past year, that sentiment could not be truer today.
I want to thank my fellow outgoing HSC members—Mandy Geyer, Gabby Guzman and Julie Wang—for generously volunteering their time, efforts and ideas since joining the council in late 2021. Notably, these three positively contributed to the great strides (that I hope our section members have observed) in the volume and quality of health-related webcasts, acclaimed enhancements to the SOA Health Meeting and ongoing collaboration with our membership. Please join me in thanking them for their dedication and service!
When I began as chair earlier this year, I knew we must continue the great work in progress that members have come to expect from the Health Section, including research, education and networking. But we also needed to build on those efforts and bring new areas of value. So, in February 2024, the HSC convened for our annual meeting in Chicago to review our priorities, reassess our mission and plan our objectives for 2024 and beyond. We reviewed member feedback, discussed new ideas, considered success measures and socialized over meals. While all of our discussions were robust, certain ideas were prioritized, so I’d like to recap and emphasize all the accomplishments—both ongoing and new—from this year. In 2024, the HSC helped bring forward:
- Research, with five robust, health-related research reports on topics such as reimagining pharmacy finance, machine learning for fraud detection and more (thanks to Achilles Natsis, the HSC’s SOA staff actuary, who helps coordinate much of this). More research (likely three to four reports) is set to be published soon, as is a new research report titled “ACA @ 15.” The latter is scheduled for March 2025 around the 15th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and it highlights the current state of health insurance markets 15 years later.
- Education, with over 12 related articles curated and published in HSC’s digital newsletter Health Watch.
- Webcasts throughout the year, on topics such as cell/gene therapy, professional employer organizations and social determinants of health.
- Networking opportunities at the 2024 Health Meeting in Baltimore in June 2024, including new enhancements like (1) icons on attendee badges designed to create more meaningful networking through common interests and (2) an interactive audience game during the networking lunch.
- A new “HSC Action Plan” that identifies and outlines all of the above, as well as new objectives created this year, such as engaging with the actuarial student community, highlighting the value of subgroups, creating a stronger presence on social media, and participating in nonactuarial events to bring greater visibility to health actuaries.
As I look back on 2024, I’m proud of the HSC collaboration and energy that led to these accomplishments and wish the council all the best going forward. I’m confident the leadership team and council will continue to build on these great initiatives.
I thank everyone again for trusting me as your 2024 HSC chairperson, hope that you have witnessed the HSC’s positive value this year, and look forward to seeing many of you in Dallas (my hometown) for the 2025 SOA Health Meeting!
Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.
Derek Ray, FSA, MAAA, is a principal and senior actuary in Mercer’s Health & Benefits Practice. Derek can be reached at Derek.Ray@Mercer.com.