This text is a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of group insurance in the United States and Canada. It addresses life and health insurance as well as government programs and more specialized forms of insurance. Emphasis is placed on the actuarial aspects of this important field of insurance including pricing, regulation, underwriting, financial reporting, and modeling. Since its original publication in 1992, Group Insurance has become the resource of choice for experts as well as beginners. It is an essential tool for anyone who wishes to practice in the group benefits field. The Sixth Edition has been updated for the industry and regulatory changes which have occurred since 2007. Of particular note is the impact that healthcare reform in the United States will have on all facets of this topic.

As the population of older Americans grows, it is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Differences in health by racial and ethnic status could be increasingly consequential for health policy and programs. Such differences are not simply a matter of education or ability to pay for health care. For instance, Asian Americans and Hispanics appear to be in better health, on a number of indicators, than White Americans, despite, on average, lower socioeconomic status. The reasons are complex, including possible roles for such factors as selective migration, risk behaviors, exposure to various stressors, patient attitudes, and geographic variation in health care. This volume, produced by a multidisciplinary panel, considers such possible explanations for racial and ethnic health differentials within an integrated framework. It provides a concise summary of available research and lays out a research agenda to address the many uncertainties in current knowledge. It recommends, for instance, looking at health differentials across the life course and deciphering the links between factors presumably producing differentials and biopsychosocial mechanisms that lead to impaired health.

Too many Americans overlook the importance of protecting their most valuable asset -- the ability to earn an income. As such, the role of insurance agents and advisors who focus on Disability benefits is vital to the financial security of their clients. To distinguish yourself in the Group Benefits Disability arena, consider the value of earning the GBDS Group Benefits Disability Specialist designation. The GBDS program will equip you with the tools you need to engage clients in meaningful dialogue about the entire group benefits product portfolio, and help you position the importance of the least understood group insurance -- disability income insurance. Through completion of the rigorous GBDS self-study curriculum, you will gain significant expertise that will benefit both your clients and your career. Through the program's 19 modules, you will: * Learn about the size and scope of the group disability market. * Understand the need for disability insurance. * Learn how disability coverage has evolved over time. * Understand why and how disability insurance poses unique challenges versus other types of insurance. * Learn how disability insurance is regulated. * Learn about different types of government-sponsored disability insurance programs and how they coordinate with each other and with other non-government sponsored insurance programs. * Understand how group disability insurance policies are designed and structured. * Learn how group disability premiums and benefits are treated for tax purposes. * Understand the underwriting criteria and standards used in evaluating the insurability of different groups. * Learn how group disability insurers handle substandard cases. * Learn how disability claims are processed, managed, and ultimately resolved. * Learn about the extent of insurance fraud and tools used to combat such fraud. * Learn about different service-related needs of group disability clients. * Learn about trends that are, and will continue to impact the group disability market. * Learn how to design and properly present a group disability insurance program best suited to a given group's needs. Benefits of Attaining the GBDS Designation: * Increased client retention -- and renewals. * Know when to open a group disability case -- and when not to. * Demonstrate to clients the critical importance of disability insurance for their employees and themselves. * Recognize the tell-tale signs of possible disability fraud. * Leverage the use of core buy-up plans. * Explain the differences between government-provided and private disability coverage. * Design group disability plans that meet the needs of employees, employers and the insurer. * Steer clear of regulatory issues related to disability insurance. * Ensure employees receive claims service that is fair, efficient and proactive. * Recognize which carriers are most compatible with the business you want to write. * Understand the tax consequences of different group disability funding mechanisms.

That's how Wendell Potter introduced himself to a Senate committee in June 2009. He proceed to explain how insurance companies make promises they have no intention of keeping, how they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and how they make it nearly impossible to understand information that the public needs. Potter quit his high-paid job as head of public relations at a major insurance corporation because he could no longer abide the routine practices of the insurance industry, policies that amounted to a death sentence for thousands of Americans every year. In Deadly Spin, Potter takes readers behind the scenes of the insurance industry to show how a huge chunk of our absurd healthcare expenditures actually bankrolls a propaganda campaign and lobbying effort focused on protecting one thing: profits. With the unique vantage of both a whistleblower and a high-powered former insider, Potter moves beyond the healthcare crisis to show how public relations works, and how it has come to play a massive, often insidious role in our political process-and our lives. This important and timely book tells Potter's remarkable personal story, but its larger goal is to explain how people like Potter, before his change of heart, can get the public to think and act in ways that benefit big corporations-and the Wall Street money managers who own them.

A captive insurance company is, in a nutshell, an insurance company formed by a business owner to insure the risks of the operating business. The operating business pays premiums to the captive, and the captive insures the risks of the operating business. A captive is much more than an exotic form of self-insurance: It is the creation of a new insurance company that has the potential to grow from being a mere captive into a full-blown insurance company seeking to profit from underwriting the risks of others. Adkisson's Captive Insurance Companies provides a basic introduction to captives and their benefits, including: utilize your own experience ratings; recapture underwriting profits; underwrite exposed risks and deductibles; access the reinsurance markets; and transfer wealth between generations. This book also provides a unique look at the wealth transfer, accumulation and preservation advantages of captives, as well as an overview of the types of captives, taxation of captives, and captive domiciles.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to increase health insurance quality and affordability, lower the uninsured rate by expanding insurance coverage, and reduce the costs of healthcare overall. Along with sweeping change came sweeping criticisms and issues. This book explores the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, and explains who benefits from the ACA. Readers will learn how the economy is affected by the ACA, and the impact of the ACA rollout.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.