Health Issue Briefs

Medical Reinsurance: Considerations for Designing a Government- Sponsored Program

Medical Reinsurance Work Group issue brief providing a primer on the current commercial medical reinsurance market. The issue brief also outlines some of the issues policymakers should consider when designing and implementing a government-sponsored medical reinsurance program. (January 31, 2005)

Mental Health Parity: Often Separate, Usually Unequal

Mental Health Parity Work Group original issue brief providing a description of mental health parity requirements and how group insurance plans have responded to those requirements. (December 1, 2004)

Medicare Modernization Act: Financial Issues for State Medicaid Programs

Medicaid Work Group issue brief identifying several provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 that may have an impact on state Medicaid budgets. (June 30, 2004)

Health Coverage Issues: The Uninsured and the Insured

Uninsured Subgroup issue brief providing insights on the fundamental questions facing policy-makers and health coverage sponsors, such as: What is health insurance coverage? What are ways to provide health care for the uninsured? What are the roles of individuals, employers, and government in health care financing? (September 30, 2003)

Applying the Defined Contribution Concept to Medicare: A Primer

Medicare Steering Committee issue brief providing a primer on two approaches to reforming Medicare - should it retain its current defined benefit approach (similar to that used by traditional retirement plans) or should it be changed to a defined contribution approach (similar to that used by 401(k) retirement plans)? (July 1, 2002)

Understanding Defined Contribution Health Plans

Defined Contribution Health Plan Work Group issue brief providing an overview of the defined contribution approach to health coverage. After a brief discussion of trends in health plan approaches and the factors contributing to the emergence of defined contribution health plans, the issue brief describes the characteristics and types of defined contribution health plans. (June 3, 2002)

The Bottom Line on Understanding Defined Contribution Health Plans

Executive summary of the issue brief on understanding defined contribution health plans. (June 1, 2002)

The Use of Genetic Information in Disability Income and Long-Term Care Insurance

Task Force on Genetic Testing Issues issue brief describing the nature of disability income and long-term care insurance and discussing, from the perspectives of both consumers and insurers, the implications of the newly emerging genetic technologies for these products. Strategies to effectively address this emerging dilemma of how best to respond to public concerns about the possible misuse of genetic information, while preserving the viability of the voluntary, individual disability income and long-term care insurance markets, are also explored. (April 30, 2002)

The Bottom Line on the Use of Genetic Information in Disability Income and Long-Term Care Insurance

Executive summary of the issue brief on the use of genetic information in disability income and long-term care insurance. (April 25, 2002)

Statement Regarding 2002 Medicare Trustees Report

Academy statement offering an actuarial perspective on Medicare's financial condition. (April 1, 2002)