Actuaries have long been involved in assessing risk and creating solutions to manage the costs and other financial consequences arising from serious illness. Actuaries in this area usually work closely with academics, medical professionals, underwriters, claims assessors, and other experts to understand the key risks. They work on creating a range of solutions for both individuals, as well as employers and governments.
Some of the solutions actuaries help to design and manage include:
- products to pay for private health care: for example private medical insurance
- products to pay for the financial consequences of serious illness: for example critical illness or income protection
- products to pay for later life care needs
- long term financial planning for national healthcare systems
Health and care is a small but valuable field
Health and care is truly a cross practice area, as it touches on life, pensions, risk management, and resource and environment. Its outputs in the areas of research and continuing professional development (CPD) impact actuaries working in a variety of fields.
Research working parties
Explore all the IFoA’s active health and care research working parties.
Join a practice board or sub-committee
Health and Care Board
The Health and Care Board actively influences the environment in which actuaries practice. It is a member-led board run by senior volunteer actuaries and advises the IFoA on important health and care issues.
The board operates within a terms of reference (PDF, 200 KB). It supports the IFoA Council in the delivery of our strategy.
Further information for volunteers, including tips on how to chair a meeting, can be found in our Volunteer Information Pack.
Membership is drawn from a broad cross-section of the life insurance community to ensure full coverage of all protection, health, and care insurance-related issues. Its current members are:
- Vicky Gardner (Chair)
- Mohamed Elsheemy (Deputy Chair, Lifelong Learning)
- Riekie Gordon (Council Representative)
- Mei Chan (Research)
- David Beddows
- Nicola Draper
- Siaowearn Leong
- John Ng
- Anuradha Sriram
- Dimitrios Velmachos
- Zoe Woodroffe
The board and its subcommittees are committed to ensuring their members are educated and practice in an environment of the highest standard. Notably, the board and its subcommittees are responsible for:
- developing topics for member-led research working parties and helping push through research outputs, such as sessional research papers, presentations, or articles in the British Actuarial Journal
- pushing forward timely CPD opportunities and events, ensuring all members have access to CPD of the highest standard
- helping to shape IFoA responses on consultations
- raising issues of strategic interest to the profession
Specialist sub-committees
The Health and Care Board sets key objectives annually for, has oversight of, and is supported by the:
- Health and Care Research Sub-committee
- Health and Care Lifelong Learning Sub-committee
The Health and Care Research Sub-committee ensures a strong research output in the health and care practice area through member-led research.
The sub-committee oversees all research in the practice area, including:
- identifying, promoting, and fostering new research opportunities in member-led research
- launching and monitoring the progress and needs of up to 10 member-led research working parties
- fostering cross-practice research activity where there are overlapping interests
- supporting the development of the annual conference programme
Membership
Membership is drawn from a broad cross-section of the health and care community to ensure that a spectrum of specialties and topics are investigated.
- David Beddows (Chair)
- Mei Sum Chan (Deputy Chair)
- Bianca Grotepass
- Stuart Kopsis
- Joy Liu
- Kathryn Marszalek
- Jon Minton
- Josephine Robertson
- Serena Soong
The sub-committee is supported by the IFoA Communities Team.
Terms of reference
The sub-committee operates within a terms of reference and supports the IFoA’s Council in the delivery of its corporate strategy.
Health and Care Research Sub-committee terms of reference (PDF, 140 KB)
The Lifelong Learning Committee supports the development of high-quality learning opportunities for members. The committee provides expertise to help shape event content, identify emerging topics, engage speakers and contribute to a relevant and balanced programme of webinars, in-person and hybrid events other professional development activities.