Rates of overdose deaths involving prescription drugs increased rapidly in the United States during 1999--2006 (1). However, such mortality data do not portray the morbidity associated with prescription drug overdoses. Data from emergency department (ED) visits can represent this morbidity and can be accessed more quickly than mortality data. To better understand recent national trends in drug-related morbidity, CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reviewed the most recent 5 years of available data (2004--2008) on ED visits involving the nonmedical use of prescription drugs from SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). This report describes the results of that review, which showed that the estimated number of ED visits for nonmedical use of opioid analgesics increased 111% during 2004--2008 (from 144,600 to 305,900 visits) and increased 29% during 2007--2008.”

National Vital Statistics System, United States, 1999—2006.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday ran an interesting piece about state regulators cracking down on "middlemen" pushing Stranger-Originated Life Insurance (STOLI). The article, titled "Regulators Rein in Murky Life Policies," centered around Florida life insurance agent Steven M. Brasner, a STOLI specialist (who last year surrendered a 50-foot yacht named "STOLI on the Docks") arrested by Florida authorities in April on 22 counts of alleged grand theft, fraud and other offenses tied to $78 million of policies that earned him nearly $2 million in commissions.

In the first quarter of 2010, the total U.S. life/health industry continued the progress made during fourth quarter 2009 in its recovery from the financial crisis of late 2008, according to an A.M. Best Co. statistical study in this week's BestWeek U.S./Canada.

The Society of Actuaries has posted presentations from Implementation and Challenges of the New PRC GAAP for Life Insurance Industry in China Seminar held on May 28, 2010 in Beijing.

"Widespread distribution of financial products that contain a minimum guarantee” could increase the risk of insurers crashing the financial system, according to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.

A recent research project commissioned for the Lung Cancer Alliance and several other interested organizations uses actuarial techniques to calculate the mortality difference between people who are diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer and those who are not diagnosed until lung cancer has reached its later, fatal stages. Milliman Insight recently sat down to discuss the implications of this paper with the authors, actuaries Bruce Pyenson, Sara Goldberg, and Dale Hagstrom, and cancer researcher Dr. James Mulshine, as well as with Laurie Fenton and Sheila Ross of the Lung Cancer Alliance. This interview puts the new research in a broader context—as part of the larger effort to reduce the mortality associated with a disease that kills more than 160,000 people every year.