SCHAUMBURG, Ill., June 29 -- With national healthcare spending expected to rise by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years, there needs to be a greater emphasis on finding ways to reduce healthcare cost trends. According to the findings from two recent surveys by the Society of Actuaries (SOA), actuaries and consumers both believe that more transparency within the U.S. healthcare system is the key to bending the cost curve downward: Actuaries believe there needs to be more transparency between doctors and patients, while consumers feel they could make more informed decisions if they had more information on medical procedures and options for care.

The survey of actuaries, which was taken by more than 600 members of the SOA's Health Section, reveals that creating more transparency between doctors and patients, and the provider community and patients, will be at least somewhat effective at bending the cost curve downward. For example, 86 percent of the surveyed healthcare actuaries recommend making prices for treatments more visible and available for patients. Additional findings include:

* Seventy-nine percent recommend educating consumers and providers on the efficacy of care.
* Eighty percent recommend making quality of provider care more visible and available for patients.

According to Pantely, "While there will be challenges in the healthcare system, one thing we know for sure is that in addition to increasing access to care, as a nation, it is important we also focus on ways to reduce costs while improving quality."

The recently passed healthcare reform law contains provisions that aim to bend the cost curve, including pilot projects for restructuring the healthcare delivery system. Actuaries will play a role in developing and evaluating these approaches to determine if these measures reduce cost trends while improving quality.

Additional findings from the survey of healthcare actuaries include:

* Ninety percent believe that reducing the number and severity of medical errors will help bend the cost curve downward.
* Eighty-eight percent believe that combating fraud and abuse within the system can be at least somewhat effective at bending the cost curve downward.

To supplement the findings from its members, the SOA hosted a nationally representative online survey of 1,000 Americans 18 years and older to understand what consumers believe would help them control their own healthcare costs. The survey found that two-thirds of those surveyed support the actuaries' recommendations:

* Thirty-seven percent feel they could better control their own healthcare costs if healthcare providers – or their insurance company – told them about the costs of medical services and the quality of the outcome of procedures.
* Thirty percent feel they could better control their healthcare costs if, before administering a medical procedure, their physician informed them about the costs of the procedure, the number of times he/she has performed the procedure, and its results.
* However, there is skepticism as 39 percent of consumers felt there was nothing they could do to control their individual healthcare costs.

"It's clear that consumers are feeling helpless and want as much information about their medical treatment upfront, so they can make more informed decisions about their care and what makes sense for them financially, before it's too late and they're hit with unexpected out-of-pocket costs," says Ian Duncan, FSA, FIA, FCIA, MAAA and President of Solucia Consulting, A SCIOinspire Company.

The SOA's surveys identified additional ways that could help create a sustainable healthcare system. Of those surveyed, 90 percent of healthcare actuaries, and 83 percent of consumers, believe that offering consumers financial incentives through their health insurance plan design can be at least somewhat effective at helping them make better choices as patients and live healthier lifestyles.

"Financially incenting consumers to better manage their personal health is a valuable mechanism," says Duncan. "It can serve as a springboard for long-term health management and all-around healthier lifestyles."

Results from the consumer survey also found:

* One-third of those surveyed believe they could make better decisions about their health if they know about their long-term health risks and what the outcomes of their behaviors would be.
* About one-fifth of respondents think that they could make better decisions about their health if they have access to a wellness program where they could get information on nutrition and exercise.

About Actuaries

Actuaries bring a complex future into focus by applying unique insight to risk and opportunity. Known for their comprehensive approach, actuaries enable smart, more confident decisions.

In the near term the actuaries will focus on the reform provisions that take effect most immediately, including the new medical loss ratio requirements that will apply to insurers in the individual and group markets. To calculate loss ratios, the value of benefits received by policyholders is divided by the premiums paid. But Uccello said that, "There are countless technical issues regarding how to define benefits and premiums that will need to be worked out."

The actuaries will also focus on forthcoming regulations regarding market reforms that will become effective in 2014. Uccello said that actuaries will work with regulators to structure health insurance exchanges and implement the individual health insurance coverage mandate to successfully reduce adverse selection.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Cori Uccello, please contact Andrew Simonelli, assistant director of communications for the American Academy of Actuaries, at 202.785.7872. For more information on the American Academy of Actuaries, please visit: www.actuary.org.

The American Academy of Actuaries is a 16,000-member professional association whose mission is to serve the public on behalf of the U.S. actuarial profession. The Academy assists public policymakers on all levels by providing leadership, objective expertise, and actuarial advice on risk and financial security issues. The Academy also sets qualification, practice, and professionalism standards for actuaries in the United States.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.

Cori E. Uccello

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=34071

SOURCE American Academy of Actuaries

"We are excited to have Larry rejoin Sun Life Financial," said Thompson. "Larry's deep knowledge of our organization and his broad actuarial and financial experience fits well with our focus of enhancing our financial and risk management capabilities."

In his most recent role at Sun Life Financial Canada, Madge was responsible for all actuarial reporting and analysis across the Individual, Group Benefits and Group Retirement business units. He also held leadership positions in the Individual Product Development, Retail Life Insurance, Retail Customer Solutions and Insurance Products areas.

"Larry not only offers us technical expertise, he knows Sun Life Financial," said Gubbay. "He brings extensive experience in multiple lines of business and is very knowledgeable in emerging financial accounting and risk management approaches."

Cheiron has been the $4.3 billion system’s actuary since 2005. Board rules adopted in 2008 require the system to hire an independent actuary if the system has the same actuary for more than five consecutive years.

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Culver has directed the state insurance commissioner to “stay” the premium increase. He’s calling for “a third party, independent actuary” to review the matter and determine whether the rate increases are justified. Rob Schweers, a spokesman for Wellmark, says his company doesn’t object.

“We intend to cooperate fully with the insurance commissioner in an independent, actuarial review of the data that supports our recent, individual rate increases in the individual, under 65 market,” Schweers says. “And by individual, we’re talking about people who buy their own policy as opposed to people who have a group policy through their employer.”

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Aon Consulting said Friday it agreed to buy a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s retirement unit for an undisclosed amount.

JP Morgan Compensation and Benefit Strategies, a division of JP Morgan Retirement Plan Services LLC, provides compensation, retirement and health care actuarial services.

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The president-elect, Bruce Schobel, is one of America’s foremost authorities on the Social Security system. He is also a onetime convicted felon who, according to court records, served time three decades ago for “assault with a dangerous weapon while demanding property” in New Jersey. Few know this, though, because his record has been expunged.

Mr. Schobel has put many productive years between himself and his conviction. The matter would probably be entirely unknown if it had not surfaced in the profession’s long-running debate about actuarial accountability, and the way numbers bearing little resemblance to reality keep turning up at the scene of failed insurance companies, collapsed pension funds and states that cannot balance their budgets.

Continue reading this article on NYTimes.com.

Follow the discussion on the Actuarial Outpost.

During the past month, the Board of the American Academy of Actuaries has engaged in egregious and unprecedented behavior that has interfered with and prevented me from continuing my good work as a leader of the actuarial profession and has harmed me personally. Because negotiations have proven to be fruitless, I have found it necessary to file suit against the Academy in the United States District Court in Washington, DC. I am confident that the court will remedy this bad situation and provide justice. I am eager to continue performing my duties as president-elect and a director of the Academy and look forward to becoming president on October 26.

Bruce

Further information is available at:

http://www.bakosenterprises.com/Academy/
AAA Board Composition Documentation
IL Not For Profit Corp Act - 1986
Complaint filed by Bruce Schobel against the AAA
Defendant's Memo in Opposition
Declaration of Mary Downs & Exhibits

The members of the Nominating Committee are Steve Lehmann, Chairperson, Bill Bluhm, Vice Chairperson, John Parks, Tom Finnegan, Roger Hayne, Mike McLaughlin, Larry Sher, and a regular member of the Academy’s Board of Directors to be selected shortly by Mr. Parks.

Bruce Schobel was named president-elect of the AAA in October 2008. The AAA and Bruce Schobel have not yet commented on the vacancy.

"Especially given the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) most recent estimates, all stakeholders must engage in a new dialogue to establish mutual understanding as to what will lead to real and quantifiable health cost savings," said Al Bingham, Jr., the American Academy of Actuaries vice president for health issues.

Bingham said the actuaries believe that a new dialogue, and subsequent legislation, must strive for a cost-savings program that is achievable, credible and "score-able."

"Unless health care spending is controlled, health reforms to reduce the number of uninsured will not achieve their goals," Bingham said. "If health spending continues to grow at the projected pace, health insurance premiums will continue to increase as well. Thus efforts to rein in health insurance premiums will be negated if rising health spending drives premiums to their original levels within a few years and even higher thereafter."

The Academy's Congressional briefing:
http://actuary.org/briefings/health_june09.asp

Supplemental materials:
http://actuary.org/issues/health_reform.asp
http://actuary.org/pdf/health/health_systems_june09.pdf
http://actuary.org/newsroom/pdf/healthcosts_july09.pdf

For more information or to schedule an interview with Al Bingham, Jr., please contact Andrew Simonelli, assistant director of communications for the American Academy of Actuaries, at 202.785.7872. For more information on the Academy, please visit: www.actuary.org.

The American Academy of Actuaries is a 16,000-member professional association whose mission is to serve the public on behalf of the U.S. actuarial profession. The Academy assists public policymakers on all levels by providing leadership, objective expertise, and actuarial advice on risk and financial security issues. The Academy also sets qualification, practice, and professionalism standards for actuaries in the United States.

SOURCE American Academy of Actuaries

Contact: Andrew Simonelli of the American Academy of Actuaries, +1-202-785-7872, simonelli@actuary.org

By JEREMY SINGER-VINE

When Scotland prohibited smoking in enclosed public areas and workplaces after March 2006, researchers found:

• A 14% reduction in admissions for acute coronary syndrome among smokers.


• A 19% reduction among former smokers.


• A 21% reduction among people who had never smoked.

A new study from Scotland provides what public-health experts in the U.S. say is the strongest evidence yet that public bans on smoking -- being debated in several locales -- improve health by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke.

According to the study, which appears in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, hospital admissions for heart attacks and acute coronary problems fell 17% overall, and even more for nonsmokers, in the year after Scotland banned smoking in public places.

"There has long been a claim from smokers that they are affecting their own bodies, and why should the public care?" said David Cohen, director of cardiovascular research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., who wasn't involved in the study. "This shows that the public should absolutely care ... that is an incredibly powerful finding."

Continue reading "Study Supports Health Benefits of Smoking Ban"

“It now only costs you $10,000 to purchase a stream of income you cannot outlive,” says Rich Lindsay, senior vice president of Symetra’s Life and Annuities division. “That’s how cost-effective longevity insurance can be. With Symetra Freedom Income you get more guaranteed income down the road for less money up front.”

For example, if a client wants $2,500 a month for life and purchases a Symetra immediate single premium income annuity at age 85, the premium would cost about $185,000 at today’s rates.3 However, if a 65 year old client purchased the same monthly income to begin at age 85 through Symetra Freedom Income, the premium would cost around $31,000.

Continue reading "Longevity Insurance Pays People for Living a Long Life"

CHICAGO, IL., March 20, 2008 – The Actuarial Outpost announced today that it has launched its actuarial wiki. The wiki will be used to compile information about each Actuarial Exam, the different areas of actuarial practice, current actuarial research, and other general information about the profession. The wiki can be found at this link - Actuarial Wiki.

The wiki is based off of the same powerful wiki software that runs Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia. The wiki currently has nine actuaries contributing to the wiki that range from current students to actuarial science professors and even moderators from Wikipedia.org. It is our hopes to create the single most valuable wiki based study tool for actuaries online, completely free of charge.

The formation of the wiki is only the groundwork for the vast amount of actuarial knowledge that it will soon offer. Currently the Actuarial Outpost’s Administrator, Tom, is setting up the structure for all of the information in the wiki, which is based off of the current actuarial exam syllabi. As it is 85% complete, it is ready to take on more detailed information on all of the topics covered by each exam.

Currently, only registered members who contact Tom for a wiki contributor account are allowed to edit the wiki. If you would like to join us in this project, the first step is to join the Actuarial Outpost Community by going to http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/register. Once a member, you can send a Private Message to Tom and let him know that you would like to help out.

Once your account has been upgraded to a Wiki Contributor account, you will be sent a basic wiki editor’s crash course. It’s easier than you think, and Tom and Avi are more than willing to help you with any questions you may have.

About The Actuarial Outpost
The Actuarial Outpost is the world’s largest social networking site specifically made for actuaries. The Outpost itself has three basic subsections: jobs listings, actuarial news, and by far the most important, the discussion forums. These forums are broken into five major sections, subsections, and various number of forums in each subsection. This partitioning allows for the ability to find a specific forum dealing with near any area of actuarial science, as well as having sections exclusive to specific actuarial exams. One of the largest sections is one that deals with non-actuarial topics such as politics, surveys, and a special forum, known as “The Reef” where nearly anything goes; a place where actuaries may “let down their hair” as it were. To see it in action, go to – Actuarial Outpost Discussion Forum

Our Stats
Our stats speak for themselves. With well over 14,000 members, 125,000 discussion threads and over 2.7 million posts, it not hard to see that we are the largest gathering of actuaries world wide. With over 1,500 members logging in daily, and about 84,000 unique visitors per month, questions are answered/discussed usually within minutes of being posted. Join our actuarial community and see how we help each other pass actuarial exams – http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/register

A special interest group representing a number of African actuarial associations and international organizations to investigate and recommend solutions which support the development and promotion of the actuarial profession in Africa

The Task Force which held its first meeting in South Africa in November 2007 was formed at the Third International Professional Meeting of Leaders of the Actuarial Profession in English-speaking Africa which took place in June 2007 at Nairobi, Kenya. The Kenya gathering which was attended by 35 representatives from 11 African Countries was organized by the International Actuarial Association (IAA).

The Task Force has identified four main themes for its work under the acronym – NAMES; supporting and facilitating the creation of National Associations, the Marketing of the actuarial profession with emphasis on its relevance to Africa, actuarial Education of African actuaries; establishing and maintaining high Standards of professional conduct.

The key milestone for its work is 29th International Congress of Actuaries (ICA) taking place in March 2010 at Cape Town, South Africa. It is determined to ensure that the ICA 2010 marks a watershed in the development of the actuarial profession across the continent which is vital to the emergence and strengthening of its financial markets and thus on the economic well-being of its people.

Professor Rama Lingham, director of the math department's Statistics Division, says job prospects are excellent, especially in this area.

“Chicago is home to numerous actuarial companies and financial institutions and actuaries are needed,” Lingham said.

Actuarial science, which requires passing a long series of increasingly difficult exams, relates to risk management and positions are most common in the insurance industry.

In addition to a good starting salary, “Employers provide generous incentives and support for people to complete each test, with a bonus system or paid study leaves,” Lingham said. “At the end of the day, the company is better off with well qualified people.”

Continue reading "Northern Illinois University (NIU) Adds Actuarial Science Degree"