Description: Article from Pension Section News, May 2007, No. 64, highlights a book by John Turner on international perspectives of individual accounts. In clear and concise language, Turner, a senior policy advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute, explores the first-hand experience of other countries that have implemented, either partially or in full, aspects of social security reform that have been proposed for the U.S. system.

Description: The book, 'Individual Accounts for Social Perspectives on the U.S. Debate' by John Turner, is reviewed in light of recent congressional failure to reform Social Security and in light of a survey of actuaries that produced divergent views on the subject [link to survey included].

Description: This article discusses a study of the impact of the drug infliximab on Crohn's disease patients. This study had been approved in response to an SOA request for proposals for research on the health cost and utilization effects of a specific prescription drug.

Description: Describes the Society of Actuaries' Research Expanding Boundaries Funding Pool and the application process for obtaining funds.

Description: This essay highlights that the healthcare of the future should offer unversal coverage, preserve competitiveness, research cost and quality and offer free or low cost preventative services.

Description: This is a summary of some thought-provoking presentations at the 2008 Living to 100 Symposium, where the implications of greater longevity were discussed.

Description: Full version of Small Talk Newsletter, October 2006, Issue No. 27.

Description: I am pleased to report that the 2008 ERM Symposium Scientific Paper Track continues to push the envelope in terms of both quantity and quality of papers. With 65 abstracts submitted for review--a 40 percent increase over 2007—the level of response again confirms the cross-industry interest in this topic.

Description: Healthcare costs have been rising faster than general inflation for many years. Early models that predicted this past pattern projected healthcare expenditure growth that continued to outpace total expenditure growth leading to the fallacious position that the whole of the US economy would ultimately be consumed by healthcare. The Society of Actuaries' Pension Section and Health Section Research teams commissioned Professor Thomas E. Getzen of Temple University to construct a resource model for the projection of long term healthcare cost trends that includes capacity constraints to ensure the long-term projection is rational. The motivation for creation of the model was driven by its potential usage as a resource for the estimation of reportable liabilities for retiree healthcare benefits as specified under FAS 106 and GASB 45 accounting statements. This is a zip file containing the following: 1. A background paper on the creation of the health trend model, 2. The model, programmed in Microsoft Excel [xls format], that projects per-person expenditures and growth rates through 2099 using baseline assumptions, but also permits the flexibility for user–inputted alternative assumptions, and 3. Technical documentation providing transparency and support for the ultimate results.

Description: Review of a report by Alan Mills introducing Complexity Science, a discipline which could help actuaries to model and manage complex systems, such as the health care system.