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Recent Academy Activity, March 11–15, 2013

 

Opportunities to Learn

  • Join us on March 20 for a webinar on the recently released final and interim final rules on the implementation of the three risk-sharing mechanisms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—risk adjustment, reinsurance, and risk corridors. Representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services will focus on the new methodology for reconciling advanced cost-sharing reduction payments.
  • Don’t miss the upcoming March 28 professionalism webinar on risk evaluation and risk treatment in enterprise risk management (ERM). It is essential for actuaries to understand how ERM plays a role in professional responsibilities and what standards they should follow. Find out what you need to know as presenters review two newly adopted actuarial standards of practices (ASOP Nos. 46 and 47) relating to ERM. The effective date for both ASOPs is May 1.
  • Registration is now open for the 2013 Life and Health Qualifications Seminar, Nov. 11–14, 2013. This seminar is the primary source of instruction for actuaries seeking qualification to issue actuarial opinions for either the NAIC Life and A&H Annual Statement or the NAIC Health Annual Statement but who may not have met the specific knowledge requirements set forth in the U.S. Qualification Standards. Register early: Seats are limited and fill up quickly!

Recent Events

  • The Academy hosted a two-part webinar series this week with representatives from the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) about the recently released final rules relating to the ACA implementation. Presenters specifically discussed actuarial value determinations, cost-sharing reductions, essential health benefits, and the final market reform rules. More than 900 attendees were present for each webinar. Presentations are available on the CCIIO website: Actuarial Value and Essential Health Benefits and Market Reforms.

New Public Policy Activities

  • Academy Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello submitted written testimony to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health for its recent hearing examining Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service benefit design.
  • The Rate Review Practice Note Work Group submitted comments to the CCIIO recommending several modifications to the unified rate review template and instructions associated with the final rules implementing the rate review and disclosure provisions in the ACA.
  • The Life Reserves Work Group submitted a proposed amendment to the NAIC’s Life Actuarial Task Force that clarifies the VM-20 approach to model policy loan cash flows in the deterministic reserve and stochastic reserve calculations.

Member Alerts

  • Casualty Insurance Issues: The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1035, which directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency to study voluntary, community-based flood insurance options and the possible incorporation of those options into the National Flood Insurance Program. Log in to read the full alert.

Actuaries in the News

  • In a Daily Reflector’s Op-Ed, “Health care defies predictions,” author Scott Mooneyham cites the Academy’s Medicaid decision brief and says that states that block Medicaid expansion “will see significant numbers of people who otherwise would have been covered fail to qualify for the subsidies.”

Newly Released

  • March HealthCheck: Read about recent health care reform activities in the latest edition.

 

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