HCCI Report

[George Frankly]

Originally Posted by isjjj1

it is a big deal, due to the 1) people involved 2) # of companies data consists of.

It will do nothing for health care, as they are wasting their time with trend factors, etc.

I do not disclose where I work

Not asking where, just what industry. Just trying to get some idea of where you are coming from is all. Have you seen studies like this with trend factors before?

Did you look at the Thomson Reuters MarketScan? It's a similar dataset with a large number of commercial/Medicaid/Medicare commercial lives over many years. It's pretty comprehensive. You can buy it.

[erosewater]

Originally Posted by isjjj1

it is a big deal, due to the 1) people involved 2) # of companies data consists of.

It will do nothing for health care, as they are wasting their time with trend factors, etc.

I do not disclose where I work

1) why do they people involved make it a big deal?
2) it's only 4 companies

Originally Posted by erosewater

1) why do they people involved make it a big deal?
2) it's only 4 companies

4 major companies (I thought it was more). It's a big deal...

Originally Posted by George Frankly

Not asking where, just what industry. Just trying to get some idea of where you are coming from is all. Have you seen studies like this with trend factors before?

Did you look at the Thomson Reuters MarketScan? It's a similar dataset with a large number of commercial/Medicaid/Medicare commercial lives over many years. It's pretty comprehensive. You can buy it.

I am clearly in the health field. You can see by my questions...

I appreciate the TR report and hope to check that out, thanks!

[George Frankly]

Originally Posted by isjjj1

I am clearly in the health field. You can see by my questions...

I appreciate the TR report and hope to check that out, thanks!

OK, so why is this groundbreaking? Medical costs are going up, IP cost trends are x%, OP trends are y%. This report shows that across four categories of service trends appear to exceed CPI or whatever. That's not news. Nixon had a task force to bend the trend because they were scared health care would breach 7% (I think that was the number) of GDP. That medical cost trends are high isn't news.

How does this report stack up to the trend reports that exist within your organization? This probably looks like the exec summary, and you have about 100 additional pages of information.

[FormLetter]

Don't let us taint your opinion.

I am not so impressed with the report, although I believe it is groundbreaking (at least that's what they are attempting to make it).

I will comment again, after I review, thanks for your thoughts.

btw, this is now the latest 'news story' on soa.org.

is AO representative of all actuaries? or is this only a small sample? I don't believe it could be representative of everyone

[Edward]

Originally Posted by isjjj1

is AO representative of all actuaries? or is this only a small sample? I don't believe it could be representative of everyone

Answers (in order): No. Yes. We are not the Borg.